So what, if I want to be a Harem Protagonist?
by FrancoGamerxz
Summary: An Eroge-induced epiphany leads Hyoudou Issei down a path of hard work, excellence and extreme degrees of trauma suppression. Add to that a grumpy old dragon, an overpowered sacred gear, a frisky succubus and munchkin-worthy tactics that put the capital P in "Power Creep", and you've got yourself a nice mess. Oh, and there's also devils, and angels, and stuff. (Cover by Yutaku)
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Highschool DxD is not mine, nor will it ever be (unfortunately for me, fortunately for everybody else probably).**_

 _ **If you feel I have bastardized your favorite franchise or something of the sort, you are free to tell me so. I am, however, also free to ignore flames, and focus instead on criticism (be it positive or negative).**_

 _ **Onwards, to the story!**_

 _ **~oOo~**_

"N-no, stop, please!"

The innocent blonde's distressed cries as her clothes were ripped appart caused brought a deep sense of despair into Issei.

His heart clenched tightly as he watched a girl that he had dedicated much effort and time to at the mercy of a bunch of brutes who had ambushed the two of them outside of school, beaten the crap out of him, and were now lecherously letting their gaze flow all over the girl.

Issei felt further crushed when he saw the girl's tears as a hand went below her skirt, reaching into her panties and touching her...

 _ **-BAD END-**_

"God fucking damn it!"

Hyoudou Issei could only curse up a blue streak that would make a sailor blush as he watched his playthrough through his latest erog- _Visual Novel_ , result in another _**BAD END.**_

Motohama, the famed "Three Size Scouter" of Maheroshi Junior High adjusted his glasses as he spoke up, while Matsuda of "Sexual Harassment Paparazzi" fame moaned in disgruntlement.

"I told you, Issei, the Harem route is pretty much impossible to complete, no matter how many times we try. This has to be, what, our 65th try?"

Issei, the last member of Maheroshi Junior High's infamous "Perverted Trio" responded by slamming his face onto his desk, repeatedly, while Matsuda spoke up as well.

"We've got to give this one up as a bad job, bro. All the bad ends we got already aside, there's the matter of the fullfilment of our real life dreams!"

Motohama and Matsuda wrapped an arm over each other's shoulder, massive rivers of tears streaming down their faces as they shouted out in tandem.

"THE EXCLUSIVE , PREVIOUSLY ALL-GIRLS ACADEMY RECENTLY TURNED CO-ED WITH AN ESTIMATED 80% FEMALE TO MALE RATIO, KUOH ACADEMY!"

Rapidly overcoming their burst of emotion and cleaning himself from Matsuda's "man-germs", Motohama spoke up in a serious tone, adjusting his glasses in a manner that caused the glare to hide his eyes.

"This isn't going to be easy, Issei. We _swore_ to ourselves, each other, and on our dreams, that we would manage to make our way past the difficulties of life and into any healthy young man's paradise! We need to dedicate as much time as possible into studying for the admittance test, even if it cuts into each of our alloted 'personal amusement' time. We have no time to waste with an impossible to reach goal!"

"It's not impossible!"

The vehemence in the statement did not at all surprise Matsuda or Motohama, who were both aware of their friend's lifelong dream. The two could only sigh inwardly as Issei continued.

"If there is a harem ending, I shall reach it! I will not sleep, I will not eat, I will not hesitate nor will I give up! My goals! My dreams! My future! They all hang on the possibility of me clearing this!- hey, where the hell are the two of you going?"

The inflamed tone was replaced by a half-bewildered, half-irritated one as Motohama and Matsuda made their way out of Issei's room mid-monologue.

 _How rude._

Sighing out loudly, Matsuda was the one to answer.

"Not that I don't want to help you, Issei, I really do, but I also _really_ need to study. I tried for the mock exams and got a flat 30%, and you need to get at least a 75% to be made a viable candidate for Kuoh, and need to beat out 80% of the other test takers in order to get accepted, so I need to start cramming as soon as possible."

Issei's gaze switched over to Motohama, getting only a nod in agreement.

Irritation filling him, Issei huffed before speaking up.

"Fine! Leave! But you'll regret it when you see that I managed to both get the _**True End**_ in the Harem route, _and_ manage to get into Kuoh!"

His friends didn't bother refuting his claims, waving him goodbye as they made their way out of his home, while Issei sat down in front of his computer and glared at it with a scary level of intensity.

' _Of course they just gave up and left! It's not their dream that's on the line! I mean... If I don't manage to get the Harem Ending in some game without looking up a guide, how the hell can I manage to get one in real life!? It'd be like giving up on my dream, turning my back on it, and I_ _ **refuse**_ _to do it!_ '

His spirit aflame, Issei put himself in the proper mindset to get his good ending.

Hour after hour, day after day went by as Issei tried varying tactics. He tried changing the order in which he took his love interests for dates, the precise moment when he triggered their flags, which presents her gave, which routes he took, however, failure was the only thing that he met... That is, until he decided to change tactics.

Instead of changing the way in which he did ways in-game, he started fiddling with the game settings, trying to find some hidden slider, some secret stat, a novel route, until he eventually found what he was looking for.

His solution was borne out of desperation more than anything else. Regardless of whatever it was he said to his friends, Issei did not intend to go into the testing room without studying. Knowing that he wasn't ever really the sharpest knife in the drawer, Issei decided to give himself at least 2 months worth of study time before the test, and he was already 2 days away from reaching that line.

Feeling that he had nothing else to lose, Issei decided to try for the ultimate challenge.

He erased his previous save, _tainted_ with the failure of a _**BAD END**_ , and started a new one. However, instead of using his usual settings of "Difficulty-Normal" and "Time-Limitless", he chose to play in "Difficulty-Are you F*cking Kidding Me?" and "Time-Ultra Sprint". As far as he was aware, those settings were added by the developers as a 'Screw You' to any would-be completionists, forever locking out the game's full completion as pretty much even the easiest of routes was supposed to be insanely hard.

Issei was a man with no limits.

Forgoing such useless things as food, water, toilets and sleep, with cumulative years of experience in all things Eroge and Visual Novel, and a healthy amount of prayer and praise to RNGesus, Issei managed to do it.

 _ **-TRUE HAREM END UNLOCKED-**_

He managed to get the happy end that he desired, and all it took him was finishing the game with maxed "Charisma", "Knowledge", "Wealth" and "Martial Prowess" scores, finding the hidden, Legendary-Grade " _ **Marital Arts**_ " skill book, defeating the true final boss " _ **ESREVER RENOB TACS DOG**_ " __and absolutely obliterating any and all enemy to ensure that he and his harem were safe.

Having finally gotten what he truly desired from life for that short time frame, Issei decided to finally make his parents aware of the fact that he was alive, his stomach aware of the fact that food existed, and his body aware of the existance of this thing called a 'Bath', but, after taking his first step out of his desk chair, he felt the strength leaving his body, causing him to colapse on the ground.

After that... Is when things got crazy.

While his body had shut down to rest, his mind was still functioning... After a fashion...

Flashes passed through his mind, rapid still-frames of various different moments of his marathon session of ' _ **Legend of the Ero-Hero**_ ' passing by as if in a slideshow, with the majority of the images focusing on the his final stats, " **100% Charisma** ", " **100% Knowledge** ", " **100% Wealth** " and " **100% Martial Prowess** ", interspersed with various shots of his character's dates, the various events he had to perfect run in one go, and the defeated forms of his enemies.

And it was in that moment that Issei had an epiphany.

If he wished to get his vaunted " **Harem End** " in real life, he couldn't slack off. The game didn't allow him to get it playing in easy mode, or with no time limit. The game did not forgive anything less than full effort.

" **Charisma** " to attract the women to him, " **Knowledge** " to learn how to separate the girls that truly love him from those who would try to use him, " **Wealth** " to ensure safety, stability and a future for his large family later on in life, and " **Martial Prowess** " to defend himself and all of them from malicious people, attacking them either out of spite, or jealousy.

Friends were to be protected, enemies to be put deep into the dirt, the hardships of life to be met with an iron resolve, and time constraints to be observed and taken into consideration.

It was either the life of a Harem... _Or no life at all._

 _ **~oOo~**_

Returning to consciousness a few hours later, Issei's first action... was to gag, as his head was curled into his armpit; at an uncomfortable angle, even.

His second action was to climb back to his feet, his head shaking as he tried to decipher the myriad of blurry images that he felt had engraved themselves into the inside of his eyelids. He didn't have any idea what any of them meant, but he did know something.

He wanted to excel beyond all expectation.

He didn't know where the desire... Nay, _compulsion_ came from, and neither could he possibly, as it was the work of his unconscious mind, but he knew that he no longer desired to be a lout, an easily dismissible, below-average perverted monkey. Even if it cut into his time for ero, and even the holiest of the pervert's activities... _Peeking_... Excelling came above all of this. His whole future depended on it.

But first... He _really_ needed a shower.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou had no idea if what they were seeing was real, or if there was a gas leak in their home and they were currently in heaven, their corpses still cooling on the living room floor.

Their son, Issei, the one they hadn't seen for all of two weeks as he had locked himself in his room to do god-knows-what that made them all but sure that they'd die without ever meeting their grandchildren... Was studying.

He was sitting at the dinner table, his face showing his seriousness and focus as he read through a math worksheet, making various different noises as he compared his results to the ones in the book.

Focused as he was, Issei never noticed his parent's presence as he spoke up in a blank tone.

"83%."

His parents were ready to faint right there and then, hearing their underachieving, "60% is good enough" son Issei scoring an 80% in what seemed to be a mock exam. However, if they were surprised before, his following words caused their brains to freeze.

"...Not good enough. I can do better. No, I have to do better!"

Mrs. Hyoudou's legs lost their strength, causing her to fall backwards into a chair her husband had placed behind her in anticipation, while Mr. Hyoudou slowly walked up to his son as if he were a dangerous animal, speaking in a calm, soothing tone.

"Issei, is everything okay?"

The youngest Hyoudou blinked in surprise as his parent's presence was finally registered in his brain. Taking a few seconds to interpret the question, Issei finally answered in a semi-absentminded tone.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Why? And what's wrong with mom?"

While Mrs. Hyoudou tried to overcome her mental freeze, Mr. Hyoudou spoke up for both of them.

"Mom's just feeling a bit tired, but that's not what's important... Son, are you really feeling okay? You're not sick or anything? No cold, no fever?"

Scratching his cheek with his pencil's erases, Issei answered even as he read back through the chapter the book was open to.

"No, I'm perfectly okay. A bit hungry, but hey, that's the price of success!"

His eyes gaining an intense look, Papa Hyoudou spun Issei's chair around, ignoring his irritated grump, before placing both of his hands onto his son's shoulders, meeting the boy's gaze as he asked.

"Son, who's the girl?"

The only thing missing to display the full level of Issei's confusion were interrogation marks floating over his head.

"...What girl?"

Ignoring his son's question, Mr. Hyoudou kept speaking.

"I understand perfectly, son. When you meet the right woman... You feel like doing everything possible to impress her. Just... Make sure that in trying to better yourself for her, you do not end up forgetting who you really are!" ' _As much as Mom and I prefer this studious you anyday_ ' was left unsaid.

Eyeing his father strangely, Issei collected his study materials, and he spoke as he went away, headed towards his room.

"Dad, I think you should probably rest. I'll just... I'll be studying. In my room. Don't interrupt me, please."

Ignoring everything his son had said, Papa Hyoudou could only give his son a massive thumbs up, even as manly tears streamed down his eyes. Absolutely weirded out by this, Issei ran as fast as he could up to his room.

"Dear... I just had the weirdest dream... Issei was studying. _Willingly_."

Making his way towards his wife, Mr. Hyoudou knelt down in front of her, taking both of her hands into his own as he spoke to her, his gaze locked on hers.

"It wasn't a dream, Dear. Issei really _was_ studying."

Her eyes widening in bewilderment, she could only move her lips, producing mostly inarticulate sounds, with the occasional semblance of "Wha-" and "Hwa-" coming out. Mr. Hyoudou decided that he needed to explain everything to his wife before she short-circuited right into the mental treatment ward.

"Our Issei is growing up, dear. It seems he finally met a proper girl that made him wish to improve himself, and cast aside his silly, childish dreams!"

Tears welled up in Mama Hyoudou's eyes as the prospect of an eternally useless, perverted son ending up locked up for life for various sexual misconducts was slowly supplanted in her mind for the image of a grown-up Issei next to a featurless shade with an obviously female shape, with two smaller shades in front of them, one of a boy and one of a girl, both almost featurless except for the boy's brown hair, and the girl's brown eyes.

She pulled her husband into a tight hug ( _Inadvertently re-aligning his aching back and saving him a trip to the chiropractor_ ) before wailing and blubblering loudly, with the occasional "GRANDBABIES!" thrown into the mix for good measure.

Issei, for his part, was completely unaware of what occurred downstairs, focusing only on further increasing his final test results.

 _ **~2 Months Later~**_

Turning over his test sheet, Issei only barely managed to withold a sigh of relief, reminding himself that things were only just starting. Overconfidence in the face of what seemed to be easy victory could mean defeat.

He lost enough times to " _ **Pegga, the Sadistic Femdom Queen**_ " in " _ **Journey to the center of Nishi Aoki**_ " to know that even the weakest boss can absolutely destroy you if you got distracted.

Focusing completely and reading things through, Issei went through the math segment, checking and doublechecking his answers one at a time, before moving over to biology and repeating the feat. He finished that portion, then proceeded to push his way through history, physics and english, which were the requirements to make it into Kuoh.

Even after re-checking his entire test for errors, ensuring that he did not forget to write his name down, and taking care of any smudges with his eraser, Issei managed to finish the test with 15 minutes to spare.

He left the room all smiles, feeling the other boys around him, for the most part, complaining or despairing.

Seeing the very specific curvature of a head shape he knew well enough, Issei made his way to Matsuda, seeing that he was already together with Motohama and talking about something. The two of them didn't seem to be nervous, which probably meant that they had done well in their own tests, but he felt the need to rub his own success in their faces.

"Motohama, Matsuda! Hey!"

The two perked up at hearing the voice of the missing member of their trio, with Motohama adjusting his glasses while his gaze thoroughly analyzed the _extremely hot_ teacher that had overseen their test, while Matsuda turned towards Issei and answered.

"Hey, Issei. Long time no see."

"Yeah, it's been 2 months already."

Having thoroughly catalogued the three sizes and commiting them to his memory, Motohama turned to face issei as well before speaking up.

"Yo, Issei. So, how'd you do in the test? Me and Matsuda were comparing answers, and we think we did pretty well..."

Not bothering to hide the shit-eating smirk that wanted to stretch across his face, Issei entered full smug mode as he spoke.

"I beat that test harder than I beat my meat when I found out Miraichi Shiji starred in a lesbian flick with Asa Aida."

Matsuda let out a long, low whistle at that, before speaking up.

"That _was_ a hot video. Means you're really confident in your test performance, huh?"

"Hell yeah! I studied my ass of to get accepted into Paradise! AND! I managed to do it _after_ getting my harem ending! You know, the one you two said I would never accomplish without a guide?"

"You're lying."

Turning towards the utterly incredulous Motohama (Not that Matsuda looked any different), Issei answered while still in smug mode.

"Cross my heart and swear to burn my stash."

The two other perverts inhaled sharply, recognizing the truest sign of honesty they had amongst them.

Others would have sworn on their lives, or their gods, or something of the sort, but the three knew that those could be said without meaning. But dealing with your porn mag stash? Words were not to be said so lightly.

The ero gods did not look kindly upon deceit.

"How'd you do it, bro?"

"Hardest difficulty, strictest time limit, maximum effort, averaging 2 hours of sleep per day."

"Was..." Motohama found himself licking his suddenly dry lips, smacking his tongue to regain some of it's mosture before he finished "Was it worth it?"

"Absolutely. It was one of the most beautiful sights in my entire life."

None of the three males were aware that a gulf had suddenly been created between them and the other test takers, who talked amongst themselves while giving them looks of disgust or anger, all the while failing to properly hide their interest in their conversation.

Absolutely ignoring this as was habit from middle school, the three kept on the flow of their conversation.

"W-what happened? How did it end?"

The memories of the game's epilogue going through his mind, Issei allowed a wistful tone to bleed into his voice as he spoke.

"It was everything I dreamt of, and some more."

Motohama opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by the ringing of the bell. Blinking distractedly, Issei looked down at his watch, only to curse before he started walking backwards.

"ShitI'mLateGottaGoSeeYouLaterBye!"

Having finished saying that, Issei dashed away from school as if the hounds of hell themselves were snapping at his heels.

 _ **~The Hyoudou Residence~**_

"I'm ho-..."

The absolute last thing expected to see when he burst through the living room door was his father wearing a leather pony outfit, complete with a gag and bound legs, while his mother wore a skin-tight leather corset that hid her back and stomach... _and nothing more_... while holding a riding crop, with a ball mask covering her eyes.

The two parties froze mid-motion, Issei's face absolutely blank, while his parents did their best not to blush, their mortification almost palpable.

Closing his eyes, Issei took a few steps backwards, opened the door again, walked back out of his home and closed the door. Taking deep breaths, Issei counted to ten while his mind dispelled the heat-induced delusion, relegating the image to the deepest, darkest parts of his traumatic memory storage ( _Other articles tossed into that deep, dark pit of despair and misery were things such as Tubgirl, 2 girls 1 cup, and some things he found out while researching fetishes as a child that he still wasn't absolutely sure were legal_ ) and re-centered himself.

Having successfully supressed the memory, Issei went back into his house - slamming the door harder than necessary in order to make noise - before shouting out loud.

"I'm Home!" A subconscious impulse prompted him to finish with "For the first time since breakfast!"

Making his way into the living room, Issei found his parents sitting primly and porperly at the dinner table, steaming teacups in front of each of them.

With a rather blatantly pasted-on smile on his face, Mr. Hyoudou spoke up.

"Oh hey Issei, how did the test go?"

"I absolutely nailed it." He followed up in his mind with ' _And I'll absolutely make my way into paradise!_ '

Managing a much more convincing smile, Mrs. Hyoudou spoke up.

"That's great, Issei! We're sure you managed to get into the school you wanted!"

The perverted young man crossed his arms and nodded sagely as he spoke.

"Of course I did. Now I'll be in my room, the books won't study themselves you know!"

Unknowing of her son's incredible ability to completely bury traumatic memories, Mrs. Hyoudou decided to try to make up for her child, for doing his absolute best not to embarrass his parents despite the fact that he himself was probably mortified by the situation, maybe even scarred for life.

( _Or worse, Kami forbid, he could have asked to join in. She wasn't sure her heart would have handled something like that._ )

"Well, Issei, me and papa were talking, and we decided that, depending on the test results, we could send you abroad for a vacation, until at least a week or two from the start of the next school year."

"We were?"

Mrs. Hyoudou absolutely ignored he flabbergasted husband as she watched her son seemingly thinking something through, his focus very intense. Issei then spoke up.

"Can I choose my destination?"

Before Mr. Hyoudou could give any objections about said trip, Mrs. Hyoudou spoke up.

"Of course you can, as long as it is not excessively expensive!"

"Thanks, mom!"

Issei's instincts told him that he didn't want to touch either of his parents at this moment, though he didn't know why, so he procceeded to go to his room. ( _While also following the instinct telling him to avoid the rug and the couch, moving closer to the kitchen than anything else_ ).

 _ **~Issei's room~**_

While he intended to study some more in order to not make a fool of himself in his new school next school year, hearing about the trip made Issei decide to change priorities. He fired up his computer for the first time since he beat the Harem Route, but instead of going into his usual... Adult Entertainment websites, or opening one of his more saucy Visual Novels, Issei decided to do some research.

Opening his search engine, Issei decided to search for everything related to Tourism.

 _Sexual Tourism_.

Dozens, maybe even hundreds of websites later, Issei had decided on what to do.

' _I'll use the time between now and getting the test results to get better at english, and to learn dutch._ '

Those were his primary needs. After all, Issei decided to go to Amsterdam.

 _ **~oOo~**_

On a totally unrelated note, a certain busty brunette suddenly started chuckling creepilly in her usual sadistic manner, the feeling that someone had just been mentally scarred hitting her out of nowhere and surprising her with how refreshing it was. The rest of the peerage around her, who were already used to her mannerisms, did nothing more than ignore it.

 _ **-PROLOGUE: END-**_


	2. A pervert's holy land

**Hey there! I see you've decided to return to this story, which means that I'm probably doing something right. That's good.**

 **I've decided to open a response section, for reviews that show some level of inquisitiveness or questions, so... Here goes the Review corner:**

 **Fenrir44 says: "Issei my man i hope you have a fine here in the netherlands Joking aside this is a really intresting idea and if issei is a ero VN harem protagonist here will his dear sweet mother fall into his arms as well as that is a big fetish"**

 **A: I don't intend to make that happen. Mama Hyoudou and Papa Hyoudou are forever shipped. Other MILF's, however, may be fair game.**

 **Tribus says: "Heeey! This is pretty interesting! The title seems to be inspired from "So What, If I'm A Spider?" If I'm right tell me because I realized this really quickly. Issei seems to be what I like to call "reasonably tenacious." Same weird goal, but doesn't seem to willow in self-defeat at the fact that his personality won't cut it. I have high expectations, bud!"**

 **A: Thanks for the kind words and expectations! However, the title has nothing to do with "So What, If I'm A spider?" . I don't even know what that title refers to. It's just a coincidence.**

 **Cygfried says: "Now this one is interesting, actually smart issei, no bullshit "keikaku dori" but actually, "the power of knowledge and rational thinking" now i can get behind that! And also the lovable pervert that we love, even better...you got me...also is the succubus morrigan by chance? Or an oc?"**

 **A: I'm glad that my depiction of Issei comes off as interesting and smart, with no unreasonable 'All according to plan' vibes since it's not part of his character traits. About the succubus, is it Morrigan or an OC? Well... we'll be finding that out soon, aren't we?**

 **This marks the end of the review corner for this chapter. Now, onto the story!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

The sound of heavy stomps rushing up the stairs broke Issei's concentration from the book he was perusing.

He was still surprised, however, when his mother slammed his door open, her chest heaving at the exertion of climbing up the stairs.

"It's here! It's here, Issei!"

"What's here?"

"Your test results! They came in by mail today!"

His focus shifted completely onto the white envelope in his mothers grasp, any thoughts of learning the various ways to express a desire to find a strip club in dutch shelved for his desire to know whether he managed to get into paradise or not.

While he expects to have succeeded based on his good performance, nervousness is a natural thing to occur in the face of life-changing moments.

Steeling his nerves and swallowing any trepidation, Issei took the letter from his mother's hands, slowly turning it over to check all of it's details.

' _It's actually sealed with wax..._ '

Sliding his finger under the envelope's tab, Issei broke the seal and retrieved the letter within. Seeing the massive amount of text in the letter itself, Issei chose to just skim it and get to the important parts, reading out loud for his mother's beneffit.

"Dear Mr. Hyoudou, yadda yadda yadda, this very prestigious academy, blah blah blah... Thousands of applicants such as yourself have taken the admittance test with the expectation of joining our prestigious school, and failed..."

Mrs. Hyoudou gasped in surprise and sadness at that, before Issei continued.

"...Fortunately enough, this is not your case. You have managed to pass with a final result of a 98% average throughout the various subjects, leaving you with the highest result out of all participants! We are happy to tell you that you are accepted into our academy, and are expected to give a speech a speech during your first day as the freshman representative, so you are to arrive at least an hour earlier than the rest of the students..."

"YES! YES! OH ISSEI, MAMA IS SO PROUD OF YOU, AND PAPA WILL BE AS WELL WHEN HE HEARS OF THIS!"

Mrs. Hyoudou followed that exclamation up by doing a little happy jig where she stood, while Issei allowed his mind to wander and imagine the various things he'd see, feel and experience in _paradise._

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Kyah! Hah! Ahn~!"

Checking his phone's screen for the caller's identity, Issei smirked when he saw that it was a conference call with Motohama and Matsuda.

"Hey guys, Issei speak-"

"WE GOT IN, MAN! ME AND MOTOHAMA GOT IN!"

Issei had to pull the phone away from his ear due to Matsuda's volume, pulling it back in when he noticed the shouting stop, and just in time to hear Motohama's question.

"What about you? Did you get your test results already?"

"Yeah, I made it in as well, just as promised! Highest grades even! They want me to give a speech during orientation day or whatever, but that's not the most important thing! My parents promised me a trip if I made it into Kuoh, and I get to choose the destination!"

"And" Matsuda started "How's that more important than our journey into every healthy young man's dream?"

Issei's smirk could almost literally be felt through his tone of voice.

"I chose Amsterdam. You know, the city with an open, dedicated red light district, where prostitution is legal?"

"..."

"..."

"WE'RE SO JEALOUS!" was the simultaneous shout from both of his friends, while Issei rubbed his ear hard to get rid of the ringing. Hearing his friends quieting down, Issei spoke up.

"It was good talking to you guys, but I need to hone my language skills. See ya!"

 _ **~2 weeks later~**_

Issei, suitcase in one and and map in another, could only just contain his excitment. He had finally reached Amsterdam, one of the equivalents of a holy land for those of ero beliefs. To simply step onto Amsterdam was akin to performing pilgrimage, and Issei was going to show just how happy he was with this trip very soon.

 _ **~Later~**_

' _Do I look good, or what?_ '

Issei watched himself in his hotel room mirror, taking stock of his own appearance.

Red button up shirt, black jacket, a pair of jeans and grey tennis shoes, his hair slicked back with the exception of a single stubborn bang that kept falling back over his forehead no matter what he tried, a healthy dose of dehodorant and a splash of cologne.

Add to that a healthily filled wallet, a copy of his documents and his phone, and Issei was ready for a wild night!

Intent on saving money on cab fare, Issei decided to walk to his objective instead, following a his phone's GPS data instead to find his way to the red light district. Even though it was already getting dark Issei still felt safe, since Amsterdam had a reputation for being a generally peaceful city.

In fact, he felt so safe that when he saw an alternate path in his phone's map that would lead him to the promised neverland sooner, he decided to take it.

Despite the fact that it went through a pretty shady alley, and lead to a dilapidated section of the city that he wasn't aware even existed.

While initially secure in his choice, doubts started surfacing as he noticed just how worn out the buildings around him were, and how empty and dead the streets felt.

Checking on his wallet in his back pocket and gulping, Issei made sure to let his eyes seek out every shadow, nook, cranny and crevice for suspicious activity, so he knew when to run like a bat out of hell.

" _ **LOW BATTERY! PLEASE RECHARGE! SHUTTING DOWN!**_ "

And just like that, Issei's only guiding light died out.

Looking behind him, he saw what seemed to be a maze of alleys and side-streets.

' _So the only way is forward..._ '

He kept going onwards, trying to ignore that way his stomach tried to turn itself inside out, his ears wide open to pick up any possible sound...

"Hey there, _Handsome~_ "

Issei couldn't suppress the chill that ran down his spine as he heard a dusky, slightly-raspy and most definitely female voice... _Purr_ , for a lack of better definition. His head turned woodenly towards the source of the voice, and what he saw had him ready to salivate.

The _delightfuly sinful_ voice came from a girl that seemed to be around his age, 5'1" in height, 111 pounds, purple, butt-length straight hair with parted bangs in front, a blue tube top hugging her prodigious chest which could be nothing less than a DD, paired with a dark purple miniskirt that left most of her thighs in display, and a small fur jacket covering her upper back and shoulders. Her feet were clad in a pair of heels, and she looked like sex incarnate.

"Wh-wha-"

She didn't allow a word to leave Issei's mouth, her finger covering his lips for an instant before she started walking around Issei and looking him up and down, allowing him to smell the sweet, heady scent of her perfume, causing him to get lightheaded to the utmost extreme, borderline euphoric.

And then, she spoke.

"My my my, you look good enough to _eat~_ "

Those specific words caused Issei to stiffen up (In more ways than one), but before he could try to say a thing, he found himself being dragged by the collar into a dark alley.

"Come and show me how much of a man you are, hun... Mama's been hungry for it for a _long_ time~"

The girl slammed him into the stone wall harder than Issei believed someone her weight should have the strength to and crouched, her gaze locked onto his crotch with a scary intensity, but before she could even reach his belt buckle, someone spoke up.

"Hey there doll, you wanna ditch that punk over there and get a _taste_ of a real man?"

The deep, gravely voice, akin to two rocks being ground into one another prompted both the bewildered Issei and the irritated looking girl to look towards it's source, only to see a 7'6", 661 lbs monster of a man, seemingly more muscle than person, blocking the alleyway entrance.

The sight was enough to cause Issei's... appendage... to deflate, and for the haze his mind was in to clear completely, while the girl crouching in front of him at crotch-height clicked her tongue in annoyance, before speaking up.

"Go away, I'm busy."

The purpling of the man's face, associated to the throbbing veins all over his bald head and neck, and his clenching fists caused Issei to try to shuffle away from the whole situation, only to find himself stuck in place by the girl's abnormally powerful grip.

Before the man could say or do anything, the girl turned towards him and met his gaze, her eyes lighting up imperceptibly as she spoke in the seductive tone she used earlier on Issei.

"Please, go away~"

The man's features slackened before he nodded jerkily and mutely, then took a couple of steps backwards, allowing the woman to shift her gaze to Issei again and speak up.

"Now, where were-"

She found herself pleasantly surprised as her naive target pulled her to her feet, flipped their positions so that she was with her back to the wall and then squeezed her with his own body in what was an extremely daring move, only for the pleasant feeling to pass as she saw a trashcan flying past where she was previously fast enough to kill a person. She looked back to the source of said trashcan, seeing the same muscular man at the alley's opening with twisted, twitching features as if he having an internal struggle.

The man took a shaky step forward, but before he could do anything else, Issei started running from him, his hand having caught the surprised girl's and dragging her along for the ride. Issei would have commented on how easily the girl ran full-speed in high heels had he noticed it, but he was currently more focused in not dying.

There was a fork in the road ahead of them and Issei didn't hesitate, speeding down the left one full tilt. A second one came up a few minutes later, and this time he took a right, followed by a junction, which he kep ran through straight ahead.

By the time he stopped, short of breath and red in the face, they had made it to an old, abandoned building. Issei turned towards the girl, intent on asking her about what had just happened, only for the wall behind them to explode violently, causing the two to be thrown in opposite directions.

"Don't you dare **FuCkInG IGNORE ME**!"

Shaking off his daze and letting the ringing in his ears die out, Issei looked back up to the source of the voice, only to see the wall of meat that they had been accosted by change. His skin started to slowly turn blue from the feet up, with the throbbing veins hardening as well. By the time the process stopped the man looked like a victim of hypothermia, with lapis lazuli for veins.

" **YOU SHOULD BE FUCKING GLAD SOMEONE LIKE ME CHOSE TO GIVE YOUR ILK ANY SORT OF ATTENTION!** "

The girl managed to recompose herself earlier than Issei and get back to her feet, cracking her neck even as she clicked her tongue.

"Tch. Fucking asshole, ruining my dinner."

Then, right in front of Issei, a pair of membranous, bat-like wings, purple and pink in coloration, sprouted from her back, alongside a sinuous, barb-tipped tail. She clenched her hands, causing her fingernails to extend to the size of daggers, gleaming with sharpness.

Issei's already gaping mouth could only open wider as the girl seemingly _vanished_ from where she stood, turning into a blur of color, before reappearing in front of the man, slashing at his face with vicious abandon.

Her danger senses shouting at her, she flared her wings and threw herself backwards, barely avoiding a backhanded smack from the man who was still changing. She landed across from him, watching as his height grew to about 8 feet, his weight growing proportionally. His hands were each as big as a traschan cover, his arms as thick as large tree trunks.

He looked like a blue steroid abomination, with muscles on top of his muscles.

" **HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS, LASS? WE MEN OF THE JORGENSEN CLAN ARE THE MOST POWERFUL IN THE NETHERLANDS! NO MERE COCKSLUT CAN PIERCE THROUGH MY SKIN!** "

Having said that, the man curled his hand, as if grasping an invisible weapon, only for water droplets to coalesce into his hand, crafting a solid ice club which he hefted onto his shoulder, a nasty smirk pasted on his face all the while.

The succubus, deciding to avoid a fight she felt unable to win, attempted to fly away, only a blast of sharpened ice crystals to tear through her wing membranes, getting a scream of pain from her, before she grunted as the fall knocked the air out of her lungs.

Blood splatters covered her torso, clothes, as well as some of the floor below her, with more joining the fray as her wings twitched involuntarily.

The blue giant slowly made his way towards the girl, his club dragging on the asphalt behind him, stopping only when he was looming over her, with her at his feet. He raised his club, a twisted smirk on his face as he spoke.

" **Any last words**?"

"I-"

The club started dropping even before she had said a single word, and she watched as death came closer and closer...

 **BOOM!**

...Only to feel herself being tackled out of the club's way, which sounded like a pretty good thing as that swing pretty much exploded the concrete that it landed on, making a small crater. She'd more than likely be mush right now, if it weren't for the mostly hapless brunette that seemed to be glaring at the giant with an unexpecetd level of intensity after witnessing what he had been capable of.

The giant, noticing the lack of a familiar cracking and squishing of flesh, blood and sinew, cast his eyes around the area, snarling as he noticed that the human from before involved himself into something that he had nothing to do with. Glaring balefully at Issei, the man spoke up.

" **I am only going to say this once. Move, and you get to live,** _ **Human**_ **.** "

Ignoring the way that human was said as if it were a dirty word, Issei met the giant's gaze with an intense one of his own.

"I refuse."

" **Hah... You humans really are ignorant of your place in the world...** "

The giant slammed the club on the concrete to his side, causing another small crater, before pointing one of his arm-thick fingers towards the girl behind Issei.

" **You think you're protecting some helpless girl from a 'big, bad monster', don't you? Newsflash, you're WRONG! That isn't some random, helpless girl, that is a Succubus, the type of creature that lie, cheat, trick and deceive men at their whims, bringing them under their control with hypnosis, and feeding on their life force! What's most important is that even beings like those, children of Lilith meant only as cocksleeves and slutty slaves, are exponentially stronger than weak humans such as yourself! If I easily took her down, then what chance do you have to beat me?** "

Seeing Issei's continuously defying gaze, the giant sighed, before speaking again.

" **...Man, I'm wasting my time here, trying to talk some sense into you, huh? You're probably acting under her thrall, so dosed up that you can't even notice just how dangerous a situation you currently are in-** "

"You're wrong."

" **Hah?** "

Issei straightened up, his voice strong as he spoke.

"I'm not under anyone's thrall, and I know just how dangerous the situation is for me. I watched the two of you fight. I'm nowhere near strong enough to do a thing to any of you."

" **See, then just step aside, and-** "

"HOWEVER! I don't care about anything like that! I chose to stand here on my own, to protect her, and going back on my choice now... It isn't in me to do so!"

" **You think you can gain her favor for trying to defend her, kid? Hah! Even if you managed to somehow save her, she was more than likely to trick you into laying with her, drain you of your life essence and move on to the next sap! That's just how Succubi are, voracious, deceitful, slutty bitches!** "

The sun finished setting, causing the street lights around them to turn on, bathing the area in an orange glow. Despite that, Issei's eyes were hidden in shadows as he had bent his head downwards as he kept speaking.

"Favor? Trick? Life essence? Succubus?... I'm not sure I understood most of what you said, because I'm really out of my depth right now... But what I do know, is that YOU are the bad guy here! You're trying to hurt someone who did nothing bad to you! THAT, is why I'm standing here in front of you!"

Unnoticed by either Issei, or the giant, but noticed by the Succubus, was that as the brunette spoke, a green glow started building up around his left hand, tiny particles of light coalescing towards the back of his fist. Unknowing of this, Issei continued.

"I'm the type of guy who likes helping others! And that's why I won't back down! I won't give up! I will take you down, I will save the girl behind me... And I'll live on, and accomplish my dream!... I, WILL GET MY HAREM!"

The fires of determination blazing within his eyes, Issei brought his clenched left hand over his heart as he gave that final, heartfelt declaration, only to be surprised as he felt a pulse of warmth on his left arm, before an explosion occured.

Powerful winds reached the three present individuals, ruffling their clothes and temporarily defeaning them, while green light filled their vision, causing the giant to look away, while Issei could only gape silently at what happened.

After all, it's not everyday that your hand turns into a red gauntlet, a myriad of spiked sections throughout it, and a bright green gem on the back, while a massive surge of energy ripped through your body, taking away your fatigue, soothing away any aches, and making you feel as if you could take on an entire army!

"This... What is this?"

" **A sacred gear user? Now isn't that more interesting!** "

Issei, still distracted with the gauntlet, did not notice as the ice giant turned a scowl his way, before going towards him, moving faster than anyone his size had a right to.

"Watch out!"

Hearing the girl's warning, Issei looked back up, only to be faced with the ice club on a horizontal route to take off his head. Normally he would've been unable to even see the club, but a further pulse of warm - almost uncomfortably so - energy rushing through his body gave him the ability to dodge out of the way of the blow at the last second by leaning backwards, feeling the club just barely skimming his hair, before he threw himself backwards in response to a fist sent with the intent to cave in his chest, reducing the damage from pulverization to only bruising and cracking of his ribs and sternum, which were aggravated as he bounced to a rolling stop on the concrete.

The giant cracked his knuckles, expecting the human to have died and ready to destroy the _slut_ that refused him for a _human_ , only for motion at the corner of his eyes to prompt him to look towards where the human had stopped, watching as he slowly, painfully pushed himself back to his feet.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei's mind was absolutely reeling. His first day in Amsterdam had bombarded him with so many different types of surprises, starting with him almost getting a blowjob in an alley, to discovering that impossible things like Succubi and giants existed, to the discovery of his own super power.

Despite this, he managed to narrow his thoughts down to a single purpose: Surviving this encounter.

' _I can't beat him as I am... Which means that I need more power!_ '

His gauntlet responded to that thought, the gem glowing further and causing an aura, a nimbus of green-colored energy, to emerge around him. However, said aura was accompanied by a generalized sense of agony throughout his body. Aside from the injuries that he already sustained getting worsened by the stress that the previous amount of power was forcing onto his body, this increased power output caused him to feel as if he were burning up from the inside-out. However...

' _Not... Enough... More... Power!_ '

Even more of the strange energy flooded Issei's body, and this time he didn't manage to suppress a shout of agony as what felt like liquid magma rushed through his veins, flooding his muscles, bones, organs, marrow and every single one of his cells.

' _I need more power, but my body can't keep up!_ '

The giant and the succubus both watched in surprise as the human started putting out power at the level expected from a high-class individual, way beyond what any normal human, unaligned with one of the various factions or pantheons should be able to. However, they could see the damage that it was having on him.

Patches of his skin were turning red and raw, and steam rose from him as if his blood itself was boiling. He was destroying himself to be able to put out this much power, but the fact that his sacred gear even allowed him to was impressive in and of itself.

 _'Well then... If my body can't contain all the power I need..._ '

The watched as he, painstakingly slowly, raised his red-gauntleted hand towards the giant, before curling all of his fingers except for the index inwards, pointing it directly at the blue beast.

' _I'll just need to collect it... Outside of my body..._ '

He grit his teeth as the power previously tearing his body apart started rushing towards his left hand, causing him to feel the true depth of damage his body had accrued, yet he did not allow himself to fall over as he so dearly wished he could. He kept pushing the power outwards, causing a tiny pinprick of energy to emerge at the tip of his finger, as big as a grain of sand.

As more and more energy was pushed towards the same point, it started growing, the green energy getting as big as a marble, before growing further to the size of a grown man's fist, arcs of energy escaping it occasionally. However...

' _Not... Good... Enough..._ '

Issei felt as if the amount of energy built up was not enough to destroy his enemy, for that was his final goal. Not knock unconscious, or defeat, but to _Destroy_ him. However, he knew that attempting to summon more power would definitely kill him, so...

' _Compress..._ '

The fist-sized ball of energy started compressing, the power pulsing occasionally as if trying to return to it's full size, however Issei's will was stronger.

' _Tighter..._ '

The power compressed to the size of a donut hole, so dense that the air around it started heating up, giving it a flaming halo.

' _TIGHTER!_ '

The energy shrunk down to half the size of a marble, and before anything else could be said...

' _FIRE!_ '

It was all over in a second. The crack of something breaking the sound barrier, the widening of eyes of the blue giant, a flash of green light, and then there was suddenly a hole the size of a human head on the left side of the giant's chest, right over where the heart should be in a person.

The giant stood for another second, before falling over forward, dead.

Turning his gaze towards the Succubus, Issei managed a weak smile, before he fell over, unconscious, his left hand returning to normal.

 _ **~CHAPTER END~**_

 _ **Oh, snap! Who expected something like this to happen to Issei on his very first day in Amsterdam? What will happen to our hero in consecutive chapters? What's this whole deal around a single succubus? Find out in the next chapter!**_

 _ **Please remember to leave a review with your thoughts about the story/chapter, and, if you want to, send me a PM and I'll do my best to answer to it.**_

 _ **Bye!**_


	3. Pretty, Odd

**Well well, look who the cat dragged in... Or, well, the dragon. That makes more sense.**

 **Anyways, welcome to the response section of this chapter, where I'll be adressing reviews that pose questions, doubts or inquiries and giving them the appropriate responses (In my opinion, at least).**

 **The Composcreator says: "Great start! Did not realize issei would be going alone, let's hope Harold and animal don't get him hooked on weed. Good idea starting with non Christian mythos. Curious to see how many succubi live in this land of perverts."**

 **A: Yeah, Issei went alone, his parents are just cool like that. Or it might be, you know, his mom trying to prevent awkwardness. After what he witnessed of his parents, being forced to stay in the same hotel as them, possibly in the same suite, in one of the world's capitals of sex... Awkward as all hell, I'd wager. About Harold and animal... I have no idea what this is in refference to, would anyone explain it so that I can understand?**

 **About starting with the non-christian mythos, there** _ **is**_ **a reason why I set the first true arch away from Kuoh, where a sacred gear user can't take half a step outside of their home before getting the Gremory and Sitri peerages sniffing around their homes. Plus, there's so much the world has to offer in the way of mythology, and even more from the minds of other authors, writers, and even my own, and giving these the time and space to flourish... Sounds like a damn good Idea. About the succubi in Amsterdam thing... Less than you'd expect, for reasons you'll see later on.**

 **Fangs of Death says: "Well this has potential to be a good story. I look forward to see how it goes. Will Asia be apart of the harem or will she be a sister to Issei? Good luck with this story."**

 **A: I'm glad you think so, and I look forward to seeing where this story will take me as well! And about whether Asia will be part of his Harem or something else... You'll just have to keep reading to find out! And thanks for the well wishes!**

 **Fenrir44 says: "Say will the succubus be a oc or she from another manga/anime series and if she is will other anime gals come into play here"**

 **A: The answer to both of those questions... Is to wait and see! Can't be spilling the beans early on, can I?**

 **Tribus says: "I'm back! Amsterdam, huh? That's pretty interesting. I personally thought you'd go straight into Kuoh, but this is pretty refreshing. A new world to build (as in, world to describe and such) with the same ol' perverted boy. The succubus scene was neat. Although there was no build up to her showing up, it was still a nice scene. Also, Issei still has his Boosted Gear! Lovely. I look forward to your next update.**

 **-Tribus"**

 **A: Yup, Amsterdam! While I have no idea about the city's layout in and of itself, I know of relevant cultural refferences about it, so I felt it interesting to add to the story. About Kuoh, most of the stories revolve around it, and that won't be different here as Kuoh will get it's (** _ **well-earned**_ **) attention... Eventually. Until then, we'll have ourselves some fun in Amsterdam. About the lack of buildup for the succubus appearing, that was intentional. Can't say any more than that without spoiling stuff, and I'm glad it still feels nice. The boosted gear, to me, feels like one of the most intrinsinc and underexplored main characteristic of Issei, so I don't feel like taking it away. In case people want to read about Issei having other powers, I'm more in the "Give him more" camp, than the "replace what's already there" one.**

 **TheLastNanaya says: "Hmm, other MILFs may be fair game huh. Fair enough. Hope Issei wil be an accidental Netori guy in the future."**

 **A: Yes, other MILF's may be fair game, and it truly is quite fair (** _ **for Issei**_ **). On the subject of Netori... Issei may Netori someone else later on, he may not. It might be an accident, or it might be on purpose. It all depends on what I feel like should happen later on, so you'll have to stick with story out to find out!**

 **SomeKindaCoolThing says: "Now that Issei's awakened his Sacred Gear I'm looking forward to seeing him develop the various powers he needs for the harem. hen is he gonna start experimenting with things like x-ray vision and such?"**

 **A: Issei will be doing lots of experimenting, but Neither me, or him, are sure about this x-ray thing...**

 **Whew. So that was today's... Response corner!**

 **Enjoy the story!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

Pain was the first thing Issei felt as soon as he woke up. It was... Not as bad as he expected after the stunt he pulled, to be quite honest, but quite bad still. He slowly forced his eyes open, wincing lightly at the painful jab of light in his eye while allowing his vision to regain focus.

When his eyes found full focus, Issei found himself staring up at a spotty, stained, low ceiling, with what looked like bits of dew and mold here and there. That, plus the quite uncomfortable bed underneath him, the shoddy and honestly quite tacky wallpaper and the fact that the television across from him was an old patchjob CRT with one of those wire antenae told him that he was somewhere where he would definitely never take a girl to after a date, which is a cheap motel.

Having finished observing as much of the room as his neck allowed him to, Issei allowed his mind to wander back to the events he remembered from the previous night.

' _A Succubus, some giant blue dude with ice powers, and, apparently, a hidden superpower..._ '

Now, most people in this situation would be freaking out about all of this. After all, having your entire world view flipped upside-down in the course of what had to be like, what, 30, maybe 45 minutes, had a tendency to do some mental unbalancing of the individual.

' _Holy shit I'm totally the type of character that ends up getting in the harem situations._ '

Not Hyoudou Issei, no siree. He has all the mental unbalance already there, alongside various layers of trauma and delusion. Something as minor as the existance of the impossible isnt enough to take away his drive.

' _...I feel kind of bad though. On one hand, I killed someone yesterday night... On the other hand, he_ _ **did**_ _try to kill me first, AND, he prevented me from getting oral sex for the first time. So there is a sense of satisfaction in here as well, wrestling with that. I think I'm also kind of numb and in shock as I try to repress that memory, because that's the only explanation I'm comfortable with about why I'm not freaking out more about what happened._ '

Before he could continue with his train of thought, Issei witnessed a side door opening out into the room he was in, a curtain of steam billowing outwards, before the girl - _Succubus, Issei_ ' - from the previous day stepped out.

Completely naked.

The most likely reason as to why Issei's nose didn't erupt into a geyser of blood was the fact that he lost enough blood yesterday that the pressure wasn't enough.

It was still high enough, however, to cause another physical reaction, lower down his body. Even with most of his body battered and sore, Issei Jr. still stood at attention, responding to the call to arms that was the scene in front of him.

The girl, who had been toweling her hair dry, stopped for an instant, her nose twitching twice before she took in a deep breath, a satisfaction blooming in her face akin to that of someone smelling their favorite perfume. She turned halfway towards Issei, allowing him to see her figure in profile and truly marvel at just how much her chest and behind tastefully protruded from her body, while her own eyes were locked onto the magnificent tent that Issei was making under the covers.

She licked her lips hungrily, causing a chill to run down Issei's spine, while Issei Jr. all but danced, causing a bobbing and weaving motion under the sheets that the girl's eyes accompanied with her eyes.

She turned fully towards Issei, baring herself fully to him, her full, perky breasts tipped with penny-sized areola and eraser-sized - fully erect - nipples, a flat stomach with the light outline of abdominals showing just how fit she was, proportionally sized, sinuous waist that led to thick, juicy thighs, before going down to her...

' _THANK YOU ERO GODS, WHO HAVE OFFERED THIS BLESSING UPON YOUR DEVOUT FOLLOWER!_ '

The girl... _moved_... but one couldn't exactly call it _walking_. She Sashayed towards the bed, Issei's eyes all but rolling in their sockets as they tried to choose whether to accompany the results of her movevment on her breasts, to lock themselves on her hips and thighs, or to lock themselves to her pink, slightly-puffy, hairless...

" _You owe me a meal, handsome~_ "

A goofy smile came over Issei's face as the girl reached the feet of the bed, bending over forwards in a move that caused her cleavage to dip down sensually, before slowly, _painfully slowly_ climbing onto the bed.

On all fours, she started crawling up the bed towards Issei, giving his hidden member a light bat with her finger before climbing over his waist, allowing his member to nestle itself between her soft, round, plump cheeks. Seeing the boy all but drooling put a wicked smile on her face, and left her confident enough in his distraction not to notice as she unfurled her wings and tail from behind her, a pair of horns slowly manifesting from her head while her body emitted potent pheromones.

She leaned down over the boy, her breasts mashing onto his chest and perpetually red lips a hair's breadth away from his own, before she spoke.

" _Thanks for the meal~_ "

Then, she puckered up her lips, before slowly going down for the kiss...

 _ **~oOo~**_

This-this was unbelievable! This right here was the stuff of dreams and legends amongst perverts of Issei's caliber! The lustful Haze allowed him to forget everything that was said about Succubi the previous night, until a secondary haze tried to cloud over his mind, one that he noticed did not come from the inside, but instead from outside.

It was an odd feeling, one that his mind tried shouting out loud about how foreign, how... not-genuine it felt, but the cries were slowly drowned out by the shouts from Issei Jr. as he took command of Issei's actions...

Until a jolt of that same warm energy from the previous day cleared his head of the haze, allowing him to see the horns, wings and tail possessed by the very dangerous girl that was slowly leaning down to kiss him.

 _ **~oOo~**_

It happened all in an instant. One second, she was about to kiss the boy, the next moment she found herself flipped around, her back to the bed and an arm next to her face.

Her pleased smirk at the display of lust and domminance faded when she noticed the serious look on his face, and the way his eyes were focused completely on her own, no straying to her body, and no signs of swimming, glassiness, or any other indicator of a lack of control.

"Oh god, not again!"

Uncaring about the situation that could be considered threatening, especially with a boy who had enough power to one-shot an enemy she didn't even manage to scratch, the girl decided to vent her built-up frustrations.

"It happens again, and again, every single time I try to feed! Whenever I find a nice target that would give me a good meal, something happens to interrupt it! Be it a police car passing through, parents with children showing up just as things were getting good, the random dog trying to hump my leg, or even a sudden case of naked granny-induced loss of erection!"

Issei could only watch, bewildered, as the girl's rant kept escalating in volume and content.

"I'm a _fucking_ Succubus in _Amsterdam_! How hard should it be to find someone willing to blow a quick load? Apparently it's astronomically hard, and not in the good way! Between the competition with the locals, and the people coming here just to experience the novelty of _actual paid sex_ , I haven't had a drop in me, ever! I can barely keep myself alive by invading the dreams of people! Do you have any idea how hungry a girl can get?"

Issei blinked owlishly even as she continued.

"Mother was right when she told me to avoid Amsterdam, but I had to go and be stubborn as always. ' _It's Amsterdam, how hard could it be to feed?_ ' ; and just look at the results! I'm a mostly-starved, poorly-living, fucking VIRGIN! And I can't go back home to mom because otherwise she'll get all smug and give me those annoying looks!"

Issei tried moving away from the ranting girl, only for his arm to throb in pain, causing him to heavily fall sideways on the bed, attracting the girl's attention.

"Just look at this, I'm right here, naked and in bed with a lecherous, virginal teen, and I can't even get him to seal the deal!... I'm a fucking mess."

Issei blinked owlishly again, before a question managed to slip past his lips.

"How'd you know I was a pervert?"

The girl rolled her eyes, before answering in a very obvious tone.

"Tantric Energy."

The brunette tilted his head, question marks floating over his head as he asked.

"Tantric Energy?"

The Succubus nodded at that, before answering in a noticeably put-upon tone.

"The energy that is released as a direct consequence of lustful thoughts and actions, and that us Succubi primarily feed on. Most people can only release small amounts even while checking a girl or guy out, or fantasizing about them. You released such an absurdly large amount of tantric energy that I felt you all the way in your hotel room."

"Wait, if so you don't feed on people's souls, or life force, or whatever?"

She rolled her eyes _again_ , before answering.

"We Succubi _can_ feed on people's life-force, not souls, but as a general norm we don't do it, since it's an extremely non-sustainable feeding method. Tantric energy is something that pretty much anyone aware of sex can produce at any one moment with the right stimulus, so you can feed on someone's tantric energy, come back a few hours later and eat again, as long as their libido is good enough. Good, renewable, sustainable food source which doesn't hurt anyone."

The brunette's interest was fully focused on the explanation, as it pertained to his favorite subject in the world, which is sex.

"Eating people's life-force... It might be more filling in the short term, according to what I've heard, but it's bad business in the long-term as people with less life force have less time and energy to dedicate to lust and general lasciviousness, making it more worthwhile to just drain them dry at one moment, which reduces a future source of possible tantric energy. Plus, it tends to bring the attention of the supernatural factions. Angels and fallen send exorcists to kill you, devils for the most part try to bring you into their servitude as slaves and bed warmers. No respect for us hardworking, cocksucking folks, I tell you that!"

Hearing that she did _not_ intend to drain him dry of his life, Issei allowed himself to exhale out in relief, before speaking up.

"Thats... Really good to know. I was thinking that I'd have to fight you off to keep from dying, and while I might have managed to kill you, I would've died in the process as well."

It was the girl's turn to eye Issei warily as she responded.

"You speak really easily of killing me, and you deliberatly used a killing blow on that guy yesterday. You're not some sort of sociopathic psycho-killer, are you?"

"No, not at all... I just happen to _really_ like living. When you're dealing with certain people, or certain types of people, defeating them and leaving them alive is just giving them the opportunity to kill you or the people you care for at a later date. Sometimes you need to take a more... Definitive... stance. Speaking of, what was that guy from yesterday? And what's your name? I'm tired of thinking about you as 'girl' or 'succubus'."

"...I understand. Seeing things from that angle, it makes it less bad. About that guy from yesterday, he was a Jotun, an Ice Giant, sometimes called Frost Giants, from the realm of Jotunheim, from nordic mythology. Big, strong and tough with powers related to ice, they're supposedly very difficult to defeat, requiring the strength level at the scale of an asgardian to even get them to feel it. And then you went and one-shot it."

Blinking at the info-dump, Issei almost missed her next words.

"And my name's Lilith."

Misinterpreting Issei's vacant look for incredulousness, she spoke on.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's pretty presumptuous that I was named after the progenitor of our species, but hey, mom had high expectations of me, and just look at me fulfilling each and every single one of them!"

Her sarcastic tone was accompanied by the sweeping of an arm, indicating the barely passable room, before she leaned back into the bed with crossed arms.

Taking that as his cue to talk, Issei spoke up.

"Well, Lilith, my name is..."

"Hyoudou Issei, I know."

Seeing his questioning look, she shrugged before answering.

"Your ID is in your wallet and I had to take money from it to pay for this room, and I have to tell you it wasn't cheap. Shitty as it may be, it was the only place willing not to ask any questions or call the authorities when they saw me carrying your unconscious almost-corpse."

"Oh, uh... Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome."

The two lied there in an awkward silence, before Lilith turned towards Issei, her tone hesitant as she spoke.

"Issei... Will you have sex with me?"

The sacred gear user choked on air, wincing as he felt his ribs protesting against his coughing, before speaking up, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Wh-what?"

"I want you to have sex with me, Issei. Look, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm sick of having those snide bitches I call cousins always ragging on about how I'm still a virgin.

' _Hey look, it's no-man Lilith! Lilith the un-bedable! The virginal princess!_ '

I'm tired of it! So please, Issei, have sex with me?"

 _ **~oOo~**_

He wanted to say yes. By the gods, one cannot accurately measure in numbers how much willingness Issei possessed. If one tried to quantify it, they'd reach a final result the square root of purple times the desity of a black hole squared.

However...

"I... Refuse!"

The reluctance in his tone was clearly audible, and the tone itself wasn't very convincing, as every single instinct of his fought hard to overturn the decision, with Issei Jr. all but mentally kicking Issei proper, however his morals and reason prevailed.

"Why not? Am I unappealing? Do you think I'm ugly, Issei?"

He had to force his head to the side as his eyes locked on her juicy, pouting lips, the whining, needy tone of hers caressing his ears, yet Issei was a man of faith, and he would not be driven aside!

"I... I refuse to do it like this!"

Before she could respond, Issei continued.

"A pervert's virginity only holds as much weight as the situation under which they lost it! I intended to lose my virginity in a momentaneous occasion, such as the first time I told a girl that I loved her, or when I got the first member of my harem! I don't want my virginity to be forfeited on a whim!"

His spirits burning high, Issei supressed his libido with absolute control as he kept speaking, his earnestness reflected in his eyes.

"And I think you deserve better as well! Having sex... It is one of the biggest expressions of trust a person can offer another! They are literally putting their body, and their pleasure, in eachother's hands! You should do it with someone that you really trust, for the right reason! Not with some random pervert out of a... compulsion, or peer pressure! Hold on to your virginity for now, and if you wish me to take it from you... Then you'll just have to fall in love with me, and make me fall in love with you as well! Then, I'll do whatever you ask me to, to your sexy, _sexy_ body!"

 _ **~oOo~**_

Seeing how serious the boy covered in bruises and bandages was as he spoke about not having sex with her so that he could take her virginity, Lilith couldn't really help it.

"Pfft...Hahahahahaha!"

She laughed, a loud, undignified thing, interspersed with various unladylike snorts, being totally at odds with the general aura of sensuality and sexuality that hung around her at all times, and yet, to Issei, it was an amazing sound nonetheless.

"You are a very interesting person, Hyoudou Issei."

She watched Issei's face scrunch up in confusion ( _in a manner that she'd admit she considered cute_ ), before inwardly nodding to herself. Crossing her arms and lifting her nose into the air in fake arrogance, and speaking in a mock haughty tone, Lilith made a declaration.

"I cannot bear the injury to my pride which is being denied by a pervert such as yourself, Hyoudou Issei, so I have decided! I will stay with you from now on. I will take your virginity, which I claim to rightfully belong to me and no-one else, and I will keep you as my own source of food and entertainment until such a time comes as me getting tired of you."

Seeing his still blank look, she sighed in exhasperation, before clarifying thing.

"I'm staying with you so that I can feed on your tantric energy, and I'll try as often as I can to tempt you into giving me your virginity."

A bout of shyness came over Lilith as the taunts from her peers flashed through her mind, reminding her of how unlikeable she supposedly is, causing her to speak up more hesitantly.

"That is... If you'll have me?"

"ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY? OF COURSE YOU CAN COME WITH ME! I HAVE NO OBJECTIONS TO MOST OF WHAT YOU SAID!... And even that virginity part, any objection from me is halfhearted at best."

And just like that, Issei ( _Unknowingly_ ) got the first member of his harem.

 _ **~2 Days Later~**_

Stretching out his no-longer-sore arm as he left the motel accompanied by Lilith, Issei spoke up.

"Man, I didn't think I'd get back to feeling this good soon. I thought I'd be in bed for the rest of my trip!"

Smirking in a self-satisfied manner, Lilith spoke up.

"You're welcome!"

"...Wait, you did this? You healed me?"

Her tone smug, the succubus answered.

"Of course! With the amount of Tantric Energy you make available, using the needed healing spells was a breeze!"

Seeing him stop mid-step, Lilith stopped as well.

"What's wrong, Issei?"

She turned to look at the boy, only to see his eyes all but shining as he asked in an excited tone.

"Healing spells, like with magic? Magic is real?"

Lilith had to roll her eyes at that, resuming her walk as Issei had done so as well, as she spoke.

"Yes, magic is real. I'd think you figured that one out, between the succubus, the Jotun and the sacred gear."

"Sacred gear? That was that thing that I used, right? The one with the 'Boom, pow, Woosh!' ?"

A sweatdrop on her forehead, Lilith answered.

"If you're reffering to the power that you used, then yes, that's a sacred gear. Sacred gear pretty much reffers to the power that a few humans naturally possess, intrinsically linked with their souls, which the biblical god afforded humans so that they could defend themselves against the supernatural world. Each of them has a specific power, set of powers, or properties, with the 13 strongest being given the title of Longinus, the 13 sacred gears which, if used properly, grant the users the power to kill a god."

"Wow..."

Raising his left hand and turning it to either side, Issei's eyes searched for some type of physical mark of their existance as he spoke.

"Do you have any idea what Sacred Gear I have, or how I use it?"

The purplette tapped her chin with her finger for a bit, thinking out loud.

"Now that you speak about it, I didn't really have the chance to take a look at it, what with trying not to die against that Ice Asshole. And how to use... Just try to remember how you felt when it first appeared, and how it made you feel afterwards, and try to call up that feeling from your memories."

Raising his closed left fist in front of his face, Issei's brow furrowed as he whispered.

" _Remember how it felt..._ "

Unaware of this, Lilith kept absentmindedly speaking.

"Don't get discouraged if you can't get it on the first try, most humans don't have a good aptitude with magic, so-"

"HAH!"

Issei's hand was encased in a bright flash of green light, and when said flash vanished, Lilith felt the breath knocked out of her.

While Issei clenched and unclenched his fist in fascination, admiring the cool and responsive form of his 'sacred gear', Lilith's mind was rushing and whirling with a whirlind of thoughts.

' _Spiky red gauntlet? Green, glowing jewel? Yellow accents? The ability to make even a human as magically powerful as a high class being in a short time period? Tha-_ '

"Issei, Tha-that's... The Boosted Gear, one of the 13 Longinus!"

Hearing that, Issei's eyes widened as he gained a new appreciation of his new power.

"Wow, one of the god-slayer weapons! That's so cool!"

"No, Issei, that's so not cool!"

The brunette blinked at the Succubus' panicked tone, but she kept speaking on without giving him a chance to interject.

"The 13 Longinus are some of the most powerful, most sought-after artifacts in the whole world! The supernatural world is known to seek out and try to recruit most humans that possess a shred of talent, or any sort of useful sacred gear. Do you know what would happen if they became aware that you have one of the 13 longinus?

Various different factions would do whatever they felt necessary to either try to recruit you, or, if they felt your allegiance was impossible for them to gain or that it was too much effort for the end result, kill you! They'd go after you, your family and everyone you love, with the intent of either enslaving, or destroying you!"

"Holy crap... Then I have to keep this hidden at all costs!"

She gave the boy a pitying look as she spoke.

"Sorry, Issei, but that's not how it works. Your sacred gear gets it's power from one of the most powerful beings to ever exist, Y Ddraig Goch, The Heavenly Red Dragon. Dragons are beings that exert a... Let's say passive energy, that invariably garners attention, both good and bad, from allies, mates, and friends, to adversaries, rivals, opponents and enemies. The more powerful the dragon the more powerful this... aura is."

"Fuck, that's bad."

"You don't know the half of it. Let me put it in perspective:

A few thousand years ago, before my mother's birth, there was a massive war between the three biblical factions. This war was fought between the Angels, led by god, the Devils, led by the four satans, and the fallen Angels, led by Azazel, and it threatened to destroy the world. It most probably would had it continued raging.

The reason why the great war stopped was due to two very powerful beings, Albion the White Heavenly Dragon, and Ddraig, the red heavenly dragon. The two are eternal rivals, locked into combat through the annals of history. One of their battles led to them appearing in one of the great war's battlefields during actual combat, and the collateral damage from their bout was so bad that the three factions temporarily ceased conflict and converged on the two with the intent of defeating them. The dragons didn't even attempt to defend themselves, so focused on their own fight, but they were eventually taken down, and sealed into sacred gears.

The sheer damage that attempting to defeat them while distracted caused to the three biblical factions was so bad that they entered an immediate cease-fire that has persisted up until now."

Looking down at his gauntleted arm, Issei gained a new appreciation for the power that he had been given, literally, by god.

"Holy crap... This is worse than I thought... What can I do?"

" **Stop bitching and moaning and get stronger!** "

Both Issei and Lilith jumped at the powerful, gruff voice that emmanated from the Boosted gear as if it where a set of speakers, before Lilith responded tentatively.

"Mr. Red Dragon Sir?"

" **No, the easter bunny... OF COURSE I'M THE RED DRAGON! I'm in the Boosted Gear, am I not?** "

"Oh wow, the easter bunny is real as well?"

" **..."**

"..."

" **That has to be one of the most idiotic questions I've ever heard. OF COURSE THE EASTER BUNNY ISN'T REAL!** "

Crossing his arms defensively, Issei spoke up.

"Well it could be!"

" **HOW? HOW COULD THE EASTER BUNNY BE REAL WHEN EASTER IS ALL ABOUT JESUS?** "

"...How would a dragon sealed away thousands of years ago be aware of the existance of the easter bunny if it did not exist back then?"

Lilith actually blinked at that.

' _That... Is actually a great question!_ '

" **...** "

"Doesn't sound that idiotic now, does it?"

" **THAT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW!** "

Issei's whispered " _Because you're wrong_ " was either unheard or ignored, as Ddraig continued speaking.

" **As you girlfriend over there** -" Lilith sputtered and started throwing around denials at that "- **said, we are invariably going to attract both positive and negative attention, that is inevitable. The only thing you can do is prepare. Fortunately enough, you don't seem to be a total waste of my totally amazing power.**

 **You invoked it on your own through sheer willpower in it's actual primary form, instead of in the basic 'Twice Critical' form that the weaklings generally have to work up from, and I have to admit to be extremely surprised about the manner in which you defeated that Jotun, drawing an amount of power beyond your body's ability to withstand and then comprossing it outside of your body. It was a big gamble, but one that worked, and with very impressive results.**

 **If you manage to apply this level of ingenuity to the way you use the boosted gear, you may not be such a weakling for long, which is great since I don't want my host embarrassing me in front of the white one.** "

"What's that you said about a white one?"

" **Unimportant, what's important right now is that you need an out-of-the-way place where you can train without revealing yourself to the world.** "

"...I may know of a place."

Issei and Ddraig both shifted their focus onto Lilith, waiting for her to follow up on her latest sentence, which she did after some hesitation.

"I know of somewhere we can go, and it's highly likely that your identity will be kept a secret... But it will be very dangerous, Issei. For your chastity, I mean."

The boy's eyes widened as he squeaked out a "What!", while Ddraig spoke after a few seconds of silence.

" **And where is this place?** "

"...It's a city in germany, one that humanity, and even most of the supernatural world is unaware of. It's the sanctuary and homeland of succubi, protected by a special set of magical spells allowing passage only to succubi, their mates, and distinguished guests, invited by members of the royal family. It's the state-city of... Luxuria."

" **...Mhm, I've heard of Luxuria, but I thought they were only rumors... To think that that place actually existed...** **If you can guarantee us privacy and anonimity, there should be no problem with going there.** "

Looking at Issei, Lilith spoke.

"Issei, Luxuria is the world's capital of sex and lust for a reason. Pretty much the entire population is constantly releasing the same magical aura that I did to put you in a lustful haze, and with the amount of Tantric Energy that you produce, there is pretty much a 0% chance that you won't be propositioned, or even attacked as long as you're there... And I won't be able to protect you from it, You'll have to try to resist, and probably even fight off your attackers on your own."

"..."

"..."

"So, my bags are already packed, I just need to get them at my hotel..."

Ddraig could only sigh at his host's... peculiarities.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

 **Another chapter, done! Please tell me what you think of it by leaving a review below, and feel free to PM me if you want to!**

 **This is FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	4. Relativistic time is absolute bull

**Heya, It's-a me, again!**

 **You know how the drill goes, this is the response section of the chapter... Or it would be had people had, You know, actual questions. This time around I got assertions and exclamations more than anything else, which is good as it means that the last chapter was concise and did not confuse people, but makes me miss out on a bit of fan interaction.**

 **So, instead of a response corner, I'll just jump straight ahead into the story.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"This... Is very menacing. Are you sure this is the only way to go?"

Issei's concern was more than warranted, as he and his companion stood in front of a dark, creepy forest, with massive trees, and that released the feeling of malice and watching eyes. It was enough to unnerve pretty much anyone else in his situation.

Lilith, for her part, looked as calm as a cucumber as she responded.

"I know that it's not the most... Inviting... sight, but it's the best way forward. Between your parents only being willing to finance your trip and stay in Amsterdam, the lack of a Visa to Germany and your unwillingness to use official channels lest your parents be made aware of your meandering, this is the only possibility."

The possibility Lilith spoke of was ' _The Twilight Forest_ ', a dimensional abnormality in the fact that it was not exclusively at any one place at any one time. While thorough, comprehensive understanding of the forest was all but impossible to get ( _almost as if the forest itself did it's best not to be found out_ ), it was a well known fact that anyone that stepped into the forest could get anywhere in they desired in the world as long as they knew the proper paths, had the right magical artifacts to allow for navigation, or were incredibly, stupidly lucky.

Lilith, like all other succubi, was always capable of finding her way through the forest back to her home, since they are all physically and spiritually attuned to constantly feel the sheer amount of Tantric Energy and pheromones hanging around the place, so she trusted her senses to guide them through.

Trying to shrug off the creepy feeling of being watched and deciding to trust his companion, Issei followed after Lilith as she walked into the forest.

"So, Lilith... are you really sure there aren't any creepy-crawlies just waiting to jump us and eat our spleens? Because I have to tell you, I _really_ like my spleen. You could even say I'm very... _attached_ , to it!"

Neither Lilith nor Ddraig dignified that absolutely horrid joke with a response, knowing that it was just Issei trying to distract himself from his fear, while Issei laughed at himself in an attempt to ward off the feeling of a predatory gaze that persisted over him from the moment he first stepped into the forest.

The two walked for a while in a tense silence, the sounds of leaves and grass crunching under their feet as they took step after step filling the air, until...

"!"

Lilith whirled towards Issei, her claws already out as she allowed her eyes to roam around the area, assessing any possible threats even as she spoke.

"What's wrong, Issei? Did you see any movement?"

"...I need to go pee."

Lilith felt herself trip in place, barely resisting the impetus to faceplant, while Ddraig could only ask himself why he had to get such an idiotically talented host.

' _ **Couldn't I get a host that's**_ _ **only**_ _ **talented?**_ '

Recomposing herself, Lilith spoke in an exhasperated tone.

"Go on behind a tree then, I'll wait for you right here."

Nodding rapidly, Issei ran around a certain tree, before he opened his zipper and let it fly.

"Ahh... Been holding onto that one since Amsterdam..."

After shaking himself clean and re-holstering his rifle, Issei walked back around the tree to meet up with Lilith...

Only to be met with an empty clearing.

"Oh shit, oh shit, this is giving me total horror movie vibes! What if Lilith's been attacked by a carnivorous lamb that eats people's faces? What if I'm the next one? GOD, I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Before Ddraig could say a thing about his host's dramatic shouting, the two heard Lilit's voice coming from slightly away from them.

"This way, Issei!"

The brunette turned towards the source of the voice, only to see a trail of purple hair moving amongst the treeline. Feeling a sense of relief at his companion's presence, Issei dashed heartily chased after her, tears of relief in his eyes.

"Lilith, I'm here~"

He crossed past the tree she had moved around, only to witness Lilith leaning on a tree further ahead, her hand covering her mouth as she giggled coyly, before slipping around the tree and jogging away.

Inflamed by the playful act, Issei decided to chase after Lilith, not really noticing how the forest around him shifted and twisted, until some of the ground became cobbled. He stopped in the middle of an empty clearing, no traces of Lilith other than a giggle in the wind.

Following said giggle, Issei made his way past a tall bush, only to find himself entering a small, medieval-looking village, made mostly out of wood and stone. He was in a village, watching throngs of beautiful women in various states of dress walk around the village, some of them whispering amongst themselves and giggling, others carrying buckets of water, while some still paused, giving him an evaluating look before giving him sultry smiles, capable of making any man's pulse race.

Looking around the village, Issei noticed the rustic living standards, before he listened to Lilith's giggle again. Turning towards it, he saw a blur of purple rushing down the main street, prompting him to follow.

He walked for quite a few minutes until the street shrank into a narrow, winding path through another wooded section.

Making his way through the wooded section, Issei was absolutely surprised by the sight that emerged.

Suddenly, in front of him, was a massive castle. With many towers, and battlements, and narrow slits amongst the stone playing the roles of windows from which to operate bows, the whole ensemble was made in a smooth, black stone, one that gave the impression of absorbing the light around it, and that, even without being near it, Issei could swear was absolutely cold to the touch.

Seeing no-one else around, Issei kept walking down the path and into the castle, finding it very odd that the massive double doors into it were wide open.

He traversed the various halls made in the same black material, adorned with various sets of armor, and paintings of decidedly serpentine nature.

Snakes, big snakes, small snakes, really big snakes, winged snakes, snakes of various different colours... It was all there, represented in the paintings. Funnily enough, the frames of the paintings held small engravings of various snakes as well, and even the armors and the weapons they brandished had crests of snakes all over.

Ignoring all the creepy Voldemort vibes the place was giving him, Issei kept moving through the castle, trepidation gradually rising as he found not a single living being.

Eventually he reached a grandiose pair of doors, three times as tall as he was, and four times as wide as he himself was tall, made out of a bronze-colored metal, and bearing the same serpentine engravings as everything else in the forest. A pair of green-colored doorhandles were close together in the middle of the door, green, scaled patterns adorning them. When he touched them, Issei felt a scaly sensation that he'd expect from touching a real snake.

Ignoring the way the handles vibrated like actual, hissing snakes, Issei pushed them down and the doors forward, only to end up in a massive hall, the walls adorned with all forms of snake-related paintings, similarly-themed statues littering the room, and a dark green carpet under his feet, leading towards a throne.

An occupied throne.

An occupied throne... Sat on by a nude woman, her breasts bared and her modesty preserved only by her crossed legs, with two topless maids standing deferentially behind and to the sides of her throne.

"Hoh... It seems that a cute little _morsel_ has reached my... humble... abode~"

The way in which she spoke, the way she said the word morsel should have triggered red flags in Issei's brain, especially with how much it sounded similar to Lilith calling him tasty, except way more malicious.

However... Boobs.

That's pretty much the thing preventing Issei from thinking properly. After all, with a pair of juicy, succulent, pendulous breasts, bared for your viewing pleasure, who would care about something as measly and unimportant as their health and wellbeing?

"And what is your name, _Darling~_ "

"Is-Issei, ma'am!"

" _Hiss-ei~_... Well met Issei, I am Stheno, mistress of serpents and purveyor of entertainment most... Pleasant... Tell me, Issei, how is it that you found yourself in my castle, in my land?"

"Oh, well... Uh, I was sort of chasing after... a friend... And I guess I got lost."

The woman on the throne tilted to the side in interest, her waist moving in a much too sinuous manner, almost as if such a thing as a spine did not limit the type of movements she can make, but rather than alarm him, it only caused him to see stars, a small trickle of blood going down his nose.

"Oh my... Do not worry, Issei, it is likely that the two of you will be meeting eachother, but until then, I'd like to offer you my roof for you to sleep under. What do you say, mhm?"

Issei nodded frantically at that, not wanting to stay outdoors a stone's toss from the creepy forest, prompting Stheno to chuckle heartily at that, before speaking.

"Quila, my aide, shall direct you to the room you will be utilizing, Issei."

With a snap of her fingers the girl to the back and left of the throne took a step forwards to show Issei whom Stheno had refered to.

She was a beautiful woman, her hair a stark white reaching her shoulders in an asymmetrical bob, and her narrow eyes colored an exotic, hawk-like yellow. She had a smile on her face, though it visibly did not reach her eyes. She was about 5'6" tall, with a lean, athletic build like one would expect from a runner, long, powerful-looking legs, and a sensible pair of B-cup breasts. She bowed towards Issei, before speaking up.

"It will be my pleasure to attend to master Issei's desires."

Listening to that line should have sent Issei over the moon... However, he managed to notice the reluctance with which Quila had said it, which brought him back down to earth as far as the castle was concerned. At that moment he felt a fog clearing from his mind, one somewhat like the haze that Lilith's aura caused him, but... different. If Lilith's haze could be described as purple, this one... Had to definitely be green.

Being experienced With hiding emotional distress and playing the fool at a moment's notice, Issei managed to hide the fact that whatever it was that had been blinding him from the red flags so far had vanished, and her gave Quila a massive, lecherous grin even as he spoke.

"I think I'll enjoy my stay here!"

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei and Quila walked through the castle halls in a tense silence, Quila lways ahead of Issei ensuring that her frown was unseen, and Issei's relaxed pace and countenance hiding the fact that his mind was a whirlwind of activity as he tried to figure out just what was happening around him.

He's chasing after Lilith, then she runs away from him, then this castle... And he didn't even notice how weird it was for the most part due to some sort of mind manipulation magic. Absolutely suspicious.

Looking around the room and taking a second, closer look at the snake imagery, Issei felt the return of the unsettling sensation of being watched hungrily by a predator.

The two turned a corner, and as soon as the sensation of being watched faded, Issei spoke up.

"What's really happening here?"

The topless, sharp-eyed maid looked at Issei from the corner of her eye, before muttering lowly.

"You're not as oblivious as you seem. Good. You might actually make it out of here alive."

Before Issei could respond in any way Quila turned back forward, and the sensation of being watched returned as a set of armor with a serpent engraving came into view.

His own eyes narrowed at that.

' _So I'm being watched whenever there are snakes in view... Good to know._ '

With that notion firmly planted in his mind, Issei followed Quila up a few sets of stairs to the third floor, directing him towards the first door on the right. Issei got the feeling that he was being watched even in his temporary bedchambers ( _Especially in his bedchambers_ ), which was absolutely unsettling.

' _Having someone watch me so hungrily even in bed... Freaking hell, I'll go crazy if I spend too much time here!_ '

"These are your chosen chambers, master. You can rest here to recover your strength."

Her neutral tone turned as bland as the smile on her face as she spoke.

"Please, do not hesitate to come to me to me if you have any issues, as I am available to fullfil _all of your needs_."

Issei responded by shrugging, before Quila bowed ( _Causing the boy's eyes to glue themselves to the pendulous motion of her breasts_ _and drool to escape his lips_ ) before walking out of the room, her face set in a stern frown.

Now alone, Issei looked around the room, seeing that it had a few suits of armor and paintings arranged in a tasteful, if overly pompous manner.

Tossing himself to his bed, the brunette decided to focus inward and talk to his partner.

' _Ddraig, you there?_ '

He heard what sounded distinctly like a snore, causing a sweatdrop of roll down his forehead.

' _Seems like I'm doing this one alone... But before that, I need to rest._ '

With that, Issei allowed himself to go to sleep after hours of running.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Breakfast the next day was a really awkward affair. It wasn't the weird vibes of the place, or the way that it seemed the eyes in the various paintings were following his every motion, or even the fact that his partner seemed to not give a rat's ass about his distress and preferred sleeping on instead.

It was more due to the fact that he couldn't really focus on his food with a hot, unashamedly nude greenete sitting across him, her legs splayed wide and a predatory look in her eyes. The fact that she periodically licked her lips didn't help much either.

His growling stomach brought him back to the most important matter of the moment, food!

He loaded a fork up with eggs, only to see Quila all but trying to murder him with her eyes, causing him to give up on the eggs. Dropping the eggs, he allowed his fork to hover over the bacon, getting another death glare. He noticed her glare soften as his fork stopped over the sausages, giving him the all-clear.

He was ravenous in the consumming of sausages, and as soon as they were gone he pushed the plate away.

"Issei, dear" Stheno spoke up "Aren't you going to finish your breakfast?"

"Oh, I'm already full, miss Stheno!"

The woman pouted at Issei, causing him to squeeze the bridge of his nose to stem a nosebleed, before Quila spoke up.

"Your bath has already been prepared, mistress."

Stheno nodded at that, before responding.

"Very good, Quila, me and Issei will be there in a bit."

"Wait, what?"

 _ **~oOo~**_

If he had trouble focusing during breakfast, then it was nothing compared to what his mind was going through right now as he stood outside the bath chamber door, wearing only a towel around his waist and nothing more.

He could barely reign in his... excitment... with Issei jr. posing a constant theat of embarrasssment. Breathing in deeply, Issei gathered his wits and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

He opened the door, took one step inside, then froze.

"Join me while the water's warm, Issei."

You'd probably freeze too if you were faced with an absolutely hot woman, naked with the exception of foam and soap bubbles covering her privates.

' _This is, somehow, hotter than when she was just fully naked! Dangerous!_ '

Issei gulped at that, slowly stepping into the bath that resembled a greek bath house pool more than anything else, allowing a curtain of steam to cover him as he removed the towel from around himself and sunk into the soapy water.

He had to let out a pleased sigh at the feel of the warm water soothing him completely.

The two stayed in silence for a while, Issei lost in the sensations of his bath, while Stheno took Issei's distraction as an opportunity to give him a more thorough look-over, before frowning.

How could such a mostly average ( _though she had to admit he had a good face_ ) boy such as him be powerful enough to draw _that_ out?

She shrugged that line of thought off, not willing to put more effort in than necessary.

' _He's gonna be food pretty soon anyway._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

Feeling clean and nice, and wearing a thin set of garments , Issei took the opportunity to climb to the castle's highest level, trying to spot the town that he had initially walked through, only to notice that the entire world around the castle was nothing more than gray mist, causing his expression to harden.

Knowing that whatever the event was that targeted him would be occuring soon, Issei decided to prepare.

After all, it was never a good idea to mess with a dragon, and with Ddraig, he sorta-kinda-maybe qualified.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Quila, who had been polishing one of the armors around the castle, found herself suddenly being dragged by the arm by the unfortunate sap that happened to find his way to her... _Mistress'_ territory, towards what she knew to be his bedroom.

Before she could react to her assumptions and show him why he wasn't even fit to gaze upon her, much less touch her, she found herself pushed into an Alcove, before he pushed himself in as well, keeping her pressed flat against the castle's stone walls.

She opened her mouth intent on lambasting the brutish pervert, arcs of electricity already arcing along her fingers, before she heard him speak in a seiours tone she thought him incapable of.

"I know that something weird is happening here. Plans are being made, and I'm probably supposed to be the stooge of the situation. I've noticed the way Stheno looks at me hungrily, the way the town that I walked past on the way here doesn't exist anymore, the feeling of being constantly watched... I also noticed the way that you don't seem to be too crazy about following her orders, and the way you glare at her whenever you think no-one's looking, so I have a proposition to make.

We team up, stop whatever it is that's being planned, then, since you seem to dislike me so much, we go our separate ways. How does that sound?"

Quila really had to rethink her opinion of the boy. He wasn't as oblivious as she thought, and he did have enough control to think with his bigger head instead of his smaller one.

Nodding at that, she answered.

"Very well, we work together, but you cannot allow her to notice you're onto her, or she'll find a way to dispose of you even sooner."

Seeing that he still seemed serious about things, Quila continued.

"Seek out the place where the ramblings of wisemen of old lie in rest, and follow the guidance of the thunderbird."

Then, without allowing Issei to say anything else, Quila went back to her tasks as a servant of the castle, while the brunette sacred gear user racked his brains for the solution to the task given to him.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Three days after his deal with Quila, Issei was still as far away from finding the place he had been directed to as before, all the while being forced to play nice with a woman that he felt wanted to do bad, bad things to him, the world around the castle gradually disappearing, the fact that this delayed his schedule with Lilith and his trip to Luxuria, and the fact that Ddraig hadn't said a word since they arrived at the castle.

Between all of those things, and forcibly supressing his libido in the presence of the seemingly nudist Stheno and her topless maids, Issei was about ready to snap.

Case in point, the fact that Stheno's other maid, Alyx, was chattering away in front of him, and instead of appreciating the way her breathing affected her delightful breasts, or trying to engage her in conversation, he could only smile as he half-listened to her, keeping just enough focus on her to be able to give the occasional 'mhm' or 'I see' to make him seem not-rude.

"...mbling, don't you think so?"

Issei's mind went into complete focus at something he thought he heard, speaking up.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Blinking twice, the perky, airheaded maid spoke in her cheery tone.

"I said that I could write a book with how much I ramble. Seriously, I feel _totes_ like, an old man, and stuff!"

His eyes widening massively at that, Issei pulled Alyx into a massive hug, before turning around and dashing off in a sprint.

The airheaded maid could only giggle at Issei's silliness, before going back to doing her job.

 _ **~oOo~**_

' _"The ramblings of wisemen of old lie in rest!" How can words lie in rest after they've been already said? By writing them! And where do books rest? In libraries! I need to go to the library!_ '

Issei made his way through the library doors, ending up in a massive room, filled wall-to-wall with bookshelves, the only indicators about subject being hanging banners with crude pictograms, which due to his lack of knowledge of their context didn't really tell him much.

Still, he looked at the banners until he saw what could be said to be a bird of some sort, prompting him to move into that specific aisle.

Walking through the aisle, Issei kept his eyes searching through the book covers for any indication of what to do, until he saw what looked like an eagle with it's wings spread in flight, clutching a lightning bolt in each talon.

" _The guidance of the thunderbird..._ "

The brunette pulled the book from it's place on the shelf, opening it to the page a tab protruded from, only to see a large drawing of a green dragon-like snake coiled tightly around a house, It's head pointed upwards and it's mouth open in a threatening motion. Said motion was aimed towards a massive yellow bird with a beak surging with electricity.

Moving past the picture into the description, Issei's eyes widened as he read further.

" _Few beasts have such enmity amongst themselves as do the Roman Thunderbird and Midgardsomr. The Roman Thunderbird, as a representation of roman power, nobility and dominance, does not enjoy having it's territory encroached upon, which is exactly what Midgardsomr attempted to do._

 _Midgardsomr is called the 'home-thieving snake-dragon' for a reason. It moves into occupied territory, feeds on whomever it can , before melding into the ambient structures, lying in wait for further prey to cross an area it has taken control of so that it can feed._

 _When it tried invading rome, it found itself facing Rome's protection, the one that had gained the moniker of "Eagle of Victory" in heated battle. The battle between the two raged for three days and three nights on the outskirts of the city, with it moving ever closer towards Rome proper._

 _Not willing to see the city it protected destroyed in it's attempt to protect it, the thunderbird is said to have summoned a massive bolt of lightning which turned night into day, and when it died down the two were gone, banished elsewhere. No-one knows where those two are..._ "

"Until now..."

Issei turned around in suprise at the voice in his ear, an evilly smirking Stheno being the last thing he saw before he a blow to the back of the head rendered him unconscious.

"The information that you gave me was valid, slave. Very good of you."

Quila took a step forward from where she stood behind Stheno, bowing graciously towards her mistress.

Stepping forth from the shadows on the opposite side, Alyx giggled at the downed form of Issei, the club she used to knock him out still hoisted over her shoulder, before she spoke.

"Silly Issei, libraries aren't for napping!"

Stheno had to facepalm at her henchwoman's idiocy.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Whu... What happened?"

Issei's tone was groggy and his eyes registered triplicates of everything around him, which were tilted and swaying back and forth, but to be fair to him, he did get clubbed really hard in the head, so it was understandable.

He shook his head to try to get rid of the dizziness, _which only made it worse_ , before he settled on allowing his mind to clear of it's own volition.

As normal sight and sound came back to him, he remembered the events just prior to him getting knocked unconscious.

' _Midgardsomr... So the objective is trying to eat me... So why did Stheno wait so long?_ '

"So it seems you got far enough to warrant actual action..."

Issei's head snapped to the side, his gaze falling onto Quila, who continued speaking.

"Of all the men lured here during the years, you were the one to get the closest to the truth. Such a pity that you were taken down before you could find a way out."

"A way out for me or for you, Quila?... Or should I say Aquila Victis, The Eagle of Victory?"

The white-haired woman raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're sharper than you look, boy."

Ignoring the insulting level of surprise in her tone, Issei snorted before smirking smugly.

"It wasn't too hard to put together. A sharp gaze, narrowed eyes and yellow, hawk-like irises, white hair that kind of reminded me of the bald eagle, and the fact that when I confronted you in that alcove, your fingers were sparking. That by itself didn't tell me anything, but reading the book about the eagle of victory got me thinking...

Romans spoke Latin, and what would the Latin for Eagle of Victory be? Aquila Victis, or something among those lines. And your name just so happens to be Quila."

This time Quila had to blink in surprise, before speaking in an honestly impressed tone.

"Impressive deductive capabilities."

"Of course!" Issei started, before a sheepish grin came over his face "The fact that the caption under the picture said ' **MIDGARDSOMR X AQUILA VICTIS** ' in bold definitely helped."

"..."

Quila had to facepalm at that one.

After a few second of silence, Issei spoke up.

"So... Why is it that you're working here as a servant? And why did I not get fed to the big snake as soon as I stepped in here?"

"I can tell you the answer to both questions, Hyoudou Issei!"

Issei's gaze moved towards the speaker, a smirking Stheno clad in a silky, paper-thin white robe which... Well, she might as well have been naked; she was flanked by a smiling Alyx, who held a golden scepter with the top shaped as a cobra flaring it's hood.

"The reason why the vaunted 'Eagle of Victory' that brought prosperity and glory to the roman empire is bound here... Happens to be moi. Tell me, boy, what do you know of greek mythology?"

"Uh... Not much, really, only the stuff most people know. The various gods, their powers, Hercules, and Aphrodite, my personal favorite deity, followed only by Eros. Other than that..."

He followed up by shrugging, glad that the ropes tying him to a wooden post were only around him from the biceps to the waist, leaving his soulders and legs free.

"Well, let me tell you a story of three sisters. Their names were Euryale, Stheno and Medusa, and the three were very intelligent, very beautiful, very talented witches. One of them, Medusa, happened to get the attention of Poseidon, one of the greek gods, yet she refused his advances. Enraged, he snuck up on her as she performed her worship in the temple of Athena, and forced himself on her.

Athena, witnessing the scene of her temple being conspurcated yet being incapable of punishing her uncle, decided to punish the _woman he raped_. He turned her into a hideous beast, whose mere gaze was enough to turn any mortal into stone.

When Medusa's sisters, outraged by the injustice, went in front of the olympian council and exposed Poseidon's transgression and Athena's injustice, they did not get the result they hoped for, or expected. Instead of finding sympathy or justice in the council, the found majoritarily scorn and anger. Apparently, any mortal should be flattered for the attention of an Olympian, and refusing their advances is grounds for punishment. Anything that occurs to them is considered their own responsibility.

What's worse. Not only did the Olympians ignore our pleas for our sister's curse to be removed, they punished the two of us as well for daring to speak out about their transgressions as if 'they were held to the same rules as mortals'.

Medusa had her beauty taken away, and my sister Euryale had her intelligence taken from her, becoming an absolute airhead and nothing like the woman she previously was.

As for me? I started gradually losing my power, and with it my youthfulness, and my life force. I was heading for an early grave, and with my powers waning, my ability to delay or reverse this situation was diminishing.

In a bout of desperation, me and Euryale decided to find help in other corners of the world, which lead us to the Twilight forest.

We found a castle sitting atop a land that was barren of all things needed to live. We were ready to leave for somewhere else, to try to find a path to somewhere better, only for a massive bolt of lightning to strike the castle, fading to reveal a scorched and almost dying giant snake, and a bird with most of it's feathers bloodied or torn. Imagine my surprise when the snake spoke to me.

' _Help me vanquish my enemy, and I shall give you whatever it is you desire!_ '

After getting screwed over by the gods already, I decided not to trust any superior entity offering me free stuff. While the two beings were weak I used the remainder of my magic to bind Midgardsomr to the castle itself, bound myself to Midgardsomr in order to slowly siphon it's power, and bound the Aquila Victis into servitude.

I sent the snake into dormancy to not worry about it resisting, but with it sleeping there was another issue, it's power was limited. The snake needed to feed to produce more power.

So I set up a trap. I create an Illusionary field around the area that this castle sits on that lures weak men away from the forest and dulls their minds. I perform a ritual that rouses the snake into a half-awakened state, feed it, and then send it back to sleep. The extra power it generates is sent directly towards me. Once I gather enough power I'll go back to Greece, and destroy those petty fucking gods!

The ritual to rouse Midgardsomr is not an easy thing to perform, depending on the energy of my victim to perform, which is why I lace the food they are to eat with potions that convert their longevity into immediate power, that way they never notice that their energy is being taken, and by the time Midgardsomr is in a good enough state to feed, they're too weak to even try runnin, or resisting in any way.

I expected the same to happen to you, so imagine my surprise when, despite the fact that you were not imbibing the potion, you were managing just fine, or better yet, Midgardsomr was waking up faster than I expected him too.

You must be very powerful, Issei. Feeding you to the snake... I'll finally have the power to overthrow the olympians... And it's all thanks to you, Issei!"

The brunette blinked owlishly before turning towards Aquila, his tone as incredulous as his face as he spoke.

"Di-did she just explain her plan to me? Like, in it's entirety? All of it? Before she managed to fullfil it?"

Aquila just shrugged at that, causing Issei to shake his head at that.

"She's really asking to lose, isn't she?"

Closing his eyes and focusing, Issei felt the limitless well of draconic power that was sealed within the boosted gear. He grabbed onto a strand of that power, allowing it to coil itself around him completely before seeping into his body.

Opening his eyes and seeing the intersted and inquisitive looks on Aquila and Stheno's faces, Issei smirked before flexing his arms, causing the ropes tied around him to explode violently off of him.

Raising his gauntlet-clad fist, Issei pointed it straight towards Stheno, before speaking up.

"You lied to me. You bared your flesh to me, allowed me to gaze upon all of you as if I were in your confidence! You fueled my dreams! But you decieved me! Your breasts were not full with the hopes and dreams of mankind... They're full of darkness, lies, deceit and evil! Your breasts are a perversion of the world's natural order!"

"..."

"..."

Both Aquila and Stheno looked at Issei incredulously, before Stheno spoke.

"...What kind of idiot are you?"

"The kind that distracts people enough to do this. _**Compression shot**_!"

The crack of something breaching the sound barrier filled the air, a green beam of condensed energy streaking towards the distracted Stheno faster than she could erect a barrier.

 _ **Krakoom!**_

The crack of thunder filled the clearing a few instants after a bright while flash of light did, revealing Aquila in front of Stheno, flesh missing on the arm that she used to block the _**Compression shot**_ in a circular shape. Right then and there, in front of everyone's eyes, electrict sparks started filling the hole, and with a tiny flash of light she was as good as new.

"That was going to kill me."

Issei and Aquila turned towards Stheno, whose tone showed she understood just how close to death she was. The panic and fear morphed into anger, with her giving Issei a look of absolute hatred.

"How dare a weak piece of excrement such as yourself threaten my life? Threaten my chance at getting revenge on the Olympians? SLAVE, TAKE HIM DOWN!"

Aquila didn't respond with words, instead simply vanishing and reappearing in a shower of sparks behind Issei. The brunette managed to detect her from the noise, throwing himself forwards into a roll and barely escaping the chop to the neck that would have rendered him unconscious, his arm swinging towards where he expected Aquila to be.

" _ **Compression shot!**_ "

The Eagle-turned-woman tilted her head to the side to avoid the blast of draconic power before dashing towards Issei.

' _F-fast!_ '

She raised her leg and slammed it down with in a hard stomp which Issei barely managed to dodge and that caused the cobblestone underneath them explode hard enough for the shockwave to project Issei away, something that he made use of by rolling to bleed off momentum before tossing himself to his feet, this time facing Aquila, quite a fair distance away.

" _ **Compression shot! Compression shot! Compression shot!**_ "

The Eagle woman dodged the three consecutive shots at a languid walking pace, causing a bead of sweat to roll down Issei's neck and forehead.

' _She's too fast for me to hit, and too strong for me to consider using anything other than ranged attacks. These consecutive compression shots are starting to tire me out, so I need to figure something out fast!_ '

Aquila stomped hard on the ground, alerting Issei of the fact that she pretty much rocketed herself towards him, one moment being far away, the next being right in front of him, her right arm cocked backwards for a punch to the face. Issei's mind was going a mile a minute as he tried to figure out how to react.

' _She can't dodge a_ _ **Compression shot**_ _at this range, but it's unlikely that I'll be able to hit a vital spot before she caves my skull in... Do I even want to hit a vital? I know she's trying to kill me, but she's been enslaved by Stheno. She's not an enemy, only an opponent... I know, instead of compressing the power into a single point for a piercing blow..._ '

Issei's index finger, the one he used as a focus for his _**Compression shot**_ curled in with the rest of his fingers forming a fist, before a green glow emerged from the entirety of his gauntleted fist.

" _ **RAH!**_ "

A massive amount of round, pebble-sized blast of green energy exploded from Issei's fist, bombarding the entirety of Aquila's front with spread-out concussive force, knocking her a good distance away and ragdolling her for a good while before she managed to re-orient herself, her feet skidding as she touched the ground from the momentum that she hadn't bled off.

Dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a closed fist, Aquila was met with a fist covered in some red flecks.

She looked towards the boy that was fighting her, watching as a smirk blossomed on his face as he finally figured out a way to actually hit her.

Issei, on the other hand, was not as confident as he seemed. While outwardly his smirk said 'Great Success!', inwardly things were a whole different story.

' _Holy fucking crapsack in a hooker's douchenozzle, that was fucking tiring! It's worse than the compression shot in terms of energy efficiency!... I don't know how many more of these I can use..._ '

Deciding not to give her opponent any more time to make plans, Aquila dashed towards him again, her hand wreathed in electricity in order to shock him unconscious.

' _She hits me with that and I'm done!_ '

" _ **Shotgun burst!**_ "

The pebble-sized blasts heading towards Aquila forced her to halt in place and erect a shield, a yellow, octogonal-shaped barrier blocking the blasts that would have hit her, while the rest splashed uselessly on the ground around and behind her.

' _He hit me with more than he hit my shield... So being closer allows him to hit more accurately, which increases the total damage of the attack, while being further makes that attack a waste of power. So, If I jus-_ '

" _ **Compression shot!**_ "

She was surprised when a beam as thick as a human thigh impacted onto her shield and started forcing her back. Planted her feet firmly on the ground to avoid skidding, her resistance was rewarded by a cracking of her barrier.

' _Shi-_ '

Her shield shattered before she could reinforce it, causing her to be hit by the attack, albeit at an extremely reduced strength, tossing her further away and ragdolling her.

 _ **~oOo~**_

While Aquila kept reassessing Issei's threat level, the host of the Red Heavenly Dragon wasn't having a good time.

' _Crap, my body is straining from channeling all that energy, my energy is dropping faster than it should, probably something to do with awakening Midgardsomr, and my '_ _ **Shotgun Burst**_ ' _made my arm num from recoil, and Aquila isn't even bothered enough to take me seriously! She's tanking my attacks for the sake of tanking them! How the hell am I supposed to make it out of here alive?_ '

The sound of whistling from behind him prompted Issei to toss himself to the ground, causing a wooden club to barely miss his head.

' _Oh wow, why am I feeling deja-vu from-Crap!_ '

He had to roll out of the way of a follow-up swing which would have obliterated his chest cage, before rolling back into a standing position that allowed him to keep Alyx, the the club-toting maid, within his field of view.

Said maid giggled airily at that, her bared breasts doing their absolute best to attract Issei's gaze, before she spoke up.

"Silly Issei, you should listen to Big Sister, since Big Sister is the smarterest!"

"...Holy shit you're Euryale... HOLY SHIT YOUR SISTER HAD YOU SERVING HER WHILE TOPLESS!... That is equal parts hot and messed up. Well, as long as-Shit!"

He had to dodge another swing of the club, before being backhanded by the maid. _Hard_.

Flying backwards, Issei found himself being blasted in the back by a small bolt of electricity, tossing him towards the ground and forcing him to grit his teeth as the current ran through his body. Had he not been enhancing himself with the Boosted Gear's power, Issei didn't doubt that either one of those attacks, on their own, would have definitely knocked him unconscious. Maybe even kill him.

"YES! IT STIRS!"

Issei looked at Stheno, seeing her raise a wooden staff with a gren gem at the top, before she slammed it thrice on the floor.

 **BLAM**

 **BLAM**

 **BLAM**

Distracted, the brunette could do nothing as he was lifted by 'Alyx' -Euryale - who held him from behind in a tight hug, with strength beyond anything he could possibly overcome.

" _ **Listen to my voice and heed my call, he who takes and takes, the legendary invader serpent, Midgdarsomr!**_ "

A split erupted from the ground, causing the earth around them to shake as it widened more and more. Soon enough, a single eye about as big as issei was tall looked up from the crevice, their cloudy state being the only indicator that Midgardsomr had not been fully awakene.

" _ **Rise, Midgardsomr! Rise and take my sacrifice! A child of man and son of god, gifted with the divine power that is the sacred gear!**_ "

The ground fractured further, a massive serpentine head emerging from the breach, waving and bobbing in a somewhat drunken manner, the poison-green pupils slightly milky, the normally slit pupil dilated widely.

Stheno pointed her staff towards Midgardsomr, a green beam of energy flowing from it to the serpent's forehead, causing it to twitch and writhe, it's maw opening slowly, the strain visible on Stheno as it did, as if the serpent knew, even subconsciously, that as soon as Stheno got what she wanted, which was the power boost from the sacrifice, it'd get killed.

"Bring forth the Sacrif-Urhg!"

Stheno's words were interrupted by a bloody hand emerging from her gut. Looking back at the source of the hand, she found a deadly-serious Quila.

She coughed once, flecks of blood flying out and wetting the ground while two trails went down the corners of her mouth. Wheezing in pain, she spoke weakly.

"H-how... You were... My...Slave..."

"I was never your slave. I was bound to the snake, not to you, and I was unable to leave the castle for as long as it remained alive. However, the only way to get to the serpent was to get you to summon it, and the only way to truly kill it is when it's fully awake. Any less and it goes into a regenerative sleep."

"So... Hah... Y-you planned... This whole... thing?"

"Not at all. I can't really control who comes to the castle, can I? No, all I did was try to help whomever did come find the answers as to what was happening here. I hoped that if someone kicked up enough of a fuss and made things harder than you expected, you'd be forced to summon the snake earlier than expected. Without the preparation time or the required power I expected you to be unable to supress it's consciousness, but it to be far from it's full power.

I'd strike it down, then leave.

I never expected to get the host of one of the 13 longinus as the other part of the equation, and as the first one to actually force you to change the sacrifice ritual. Now, I'll finally find my freedom."

Having said that, Aquila pulled her arm back from Stheno's stomach, before taking away her staff and smashing the focusing stone on the ground, allowing a pulse of magic to pervade the entire grounds.

"Sister!"

Worried about her sister, Euryale dashed towards where Stheno and Aquila were, only to find herself being bitten into by a gigantic snake, her spine snapping in half and killing her instantly.

Shaking the corpse to ensure that it was fully and truly dead, the still half-cognizant Midgardsomr tossed it upwards before aiming his own open maw up, allowing the corpse to smoothly slide down it's gullet.

While Stheno watched the death of her last remaining sister in shock and sorrow, and Aquila started surging her power in preparation to attack the snake, Issei was startled by the sudden, yet familiar voice that graced his ears.

' **Mwah... agh... I just had the best damn sleep in my entire life.** '

"Ddraig? Is that really you?"

' **...Will I regret it if I say yes?** '

"Oh, it is you! You have no idea how glad I am you're awake! A lot of stuff happened so far! One minute I'm peeing in the Twilight woods, the next moment I'm facing Midgardsomr at a magical castle!"

'... **Did you just say you faced Midgardsomr?** '

"Technically, I'm still facing it right now."

Having said that, Issei pointed the boosted gear towards the still-awakening Midgardsomr.

' **...How did you manage to get yourself into something of this scale so soon? There is literally no way for you to survive a battle against Midgardsomr. Your body can't take the amount of power needed to even match it. If you had a few years to train, then maybe... But as you are right now? You're screwed.** '

"...It's a good thing I'm not fighting it then, isn't it?"

' **What do you mea-** '

 **KRAKOOM!**

' **...The fuck was that?** '

"Aquila Victis."

' **...The Roman Eagle of Victory?... No really, what the fuck is going on here?** '

 _ **~5 minutes of explanations later~**_

"...And then she stabbed her in the gut with her hand, and then her was killed by the beast she herself summoned."

' **Damn. I almost feel bad for this Stheno person.** '

"I know, right? If only she weren't a crazy evil girl who makes human sacrifices... And she even had some amazing breasts..."

' **Do you think of anything other than breasts?** '

"...Yes?"

' **...You're a very bad liar. We need to change that.** '

"Oh look, the fight seems about to begin!"

 _ **~oOo~**_

" **FINALLY, I'M FREE! I CAN FINISH WHAT I- WAIT, I KNOW THAT POWER.** "

The Snake of Invasion looked towards the source of the power, seeing a vaguely familiar woman bleeding out on the ground, next to...

" **AQUILA VICTIS. MY FATAL ENEMY.** "

"...Enough talk, Midgardsomr! **RAH!** "

Lightning exploded from Aquila and started coalescing mid-air in the form of a giant eagle, before even her body turned into electricity and flowed into the construct, it's massive wings releasing limb-thick bolts of lightning in all directions, scorching the earth around it.

" **I WILL FINISH WHAT I HAVE STARTED BACK IN ROME!** "

"YOU WILL LOSE! **THUNDER SCREECH!** "

A horrible sound akin to nails on a chalkboard, except magnified a few hundred times caused Midgardsomr to hiss in displeasure while shaking it's head, before a blackish-green aura of power sprang around him, causing the ground around him to start gradually eroding.

Intent on not dying, Issei pumped power into his body and ran away from the immediate area of the battle, mantaining a safe distance from the action while he allowed his body to recover it's stamina.

" **CHRONIC TOXICITY!** "

A green cloud of gas emerged from it's mouth, speeding up the corrosion of the earth, stone and trees around it, before it took the shape of a set of arrows.

" **GUIDED ORDINANCE!** "

The toxic-green coloured arrows sped towards the thunderbird, who retaliated with a flap of it's wings that released a storm of crackling bolts of lightning, causing the two to explode middair, the shockwave almost knocking Issei onto his behind despite how far he was from the fight.

"Holy shit, that's freaking crazy! I felt that from here!"

' **Feh, that's nothing! A light scuffle between me and Albion would have completely erased this whole terrain four times over! This is not at all impressive!** '

"...That sounds fucking terrifying. Now I feel less bad about the fact that you and your rival are trapped within sacred gears."

' **Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?** '

"It means that I am 100% sure that if I die, it won't be at the hands of an extremely overpowered, raging dragon."

' **Oh, Issei... Sweet, Naive, summer child Issei. You have no idea what you're talking about.** '

"...Is there an actual possibility that I get obliterated by an overpowered, raging dragon?"

' **Well, you see, thing is... Oh look, they're preparing their final attacks!** '

Issei's head snapped over towards the fight, watching as the crackling thunderbird charged a massive ball of electricity at about chest-height, while the serpent charged a sickly-looking ball of blak-green power in it's mouth.

As if prompted by an unseen signal, the two shot their attacks at the same time, which slammed into each-other mid-air before stalling as each tried to overwhelm and push past the other.

The shockwaves from the clash of powers forced Issei to throw himself to the ground lest he fly away, while the castle started crashing around them.

Midgardsomr's attack seemed to be pushing forward, slowly overwhelming Aquila's, before the Eagle of Victory looked up to the sky and screeched, thunderclouds suddenly and rapidly blotting out the sky. The rumble of thunder sounded out loud, the light travelling between clouds, before a massive bolt of lightning fell directly on Aquila.

Empowered to her utmost limit, with passive trails of lightning jumping from the corners of her eyes and beak, the bird reared back before diving towards the two attacks, slamming into the back of her own.

The snake's attack only lasted for half a second.

The two attacks dispersed under the sheer power that Aquila was packing as she dove directly for Midgardsomr, and before he could do a thing... she struck.

" **DIVING SWOOP!** "

 **BOOOM!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

Digging himself out from under the trees he was buried under during the explosion, Issei looked towards the scene of the aftermath of the battle. Aquila stood to one side, still in her thunderbird form, chest heaving heavily and one of her wings twisted at the wrong angle, while a scorched Midgardsomr was stretched throughout the ground like a kneesock full of sand.

" **It's finally over... My mortal enemy has been defeated for good...** "

The bird hopped towards the snake's corpse, prodding at it with the tip of it's beak, before moving away, satisfied, and slumping onto one of the few castle walls that remained standing, visibly doing it's best to reduce the stress on it's body post-fight.

"Holy shit, Ddraig... That was awesome! And to think that one day I'll be fighting at that level!"

' **Yes, yes, your opponents will be a bunch of powerful monsters with evil intentions towards you and your family, absolutely joyful.** '

"...When you put it like that, I kind of wish that I never have to fight at that level."

A twitch from the gigantic snake's head had Issei looking that way, only to witness Midgardsomr's jaw wide open around Stheno...

 **CHOMP!**

Before it swallowed.

 _ **~A few minutes earlier~**_

Stheno did not know how she was still alive. After getting impaled by the taser chicken, being at pretty much the 'splash zone' in the fight between the Protecting Eagle and the Invading Snake, and getting ragdolled by the explosion of the final blow, she still managed to heal herself with the waning power in her. Now she just needed to keep playing dead, and after that Issei brat and the bird bint left, she could plan her revenge on the two of them!

' _But before that... What the hell is this I'm smelling?_ '

Taking a chance, Stheno cracked one of her eyes open by the slightest bit...

Just enough to see the back of Midgardsomr's throat.

She didn't even manage to scream before dying.

 _ **~Now~**_

Issei and Aquila could only watch in terror and horrified wonder, respectively, as Midgardsomr's body started writhing around the ground, sending the scattered bits of debris left over from the previous battle flying across the clearing.

Issei just barely managed to dodge a massive tree, while Aquila luckily saw no debris going into a direct collision course with her.

Green smog emerged from all over the Snake's body, from it's mouth, eyes, and even from between it's body's scales, before it suddenly started going the reverse way and getting sucked back into the body instead of wafting outwards. The smog created a shell of energy around the body, before small cracks started appearing all over the surface of the shell.

Small pulses of power emerged from the shell, and they were enough to terrify Issei into silence. The power was reaching a level that it did not during the previous fight, even when Aquila used her last move, and it took everything Issei had just to breathe.

" _Holy fucking shit, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm absolutely going to die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!_ "

' **Hey kid.** '

" _I don't wanna die! Don't wanna die! Don't wanna die!_ "

' **Oy, brat!** '

" _I still have so much I want to do! I still want to live! I don't wanna die! I don-_ "

' **ISSEI!** '

Ddraig's shout managed to knock Issei out of his negative state, a lingering haze in his mind slowly clearing out as he spoke.

"Ddraig... What happened? Suddenly the world got really dark, and it was really hard to breathe, and it felt like I was going to..."

' **You were subjected to the force of Midgardsomr's presence.** '

"Presence?"

' **Presence, Fighting Spirit, Battle Aura, Killing Intent, you humans have a lot of names for it. It was pretty much Midgardsomr's power showing it's willingness, and ability, to kill you. When someone of a certain level of strength really focuses on you, you notice it. That's mostly because you have enough sensitivity to magic that you are capable of feeling the underlying intention behind it.**

 **It's why some types of magic are capable of making someone ignorant of it cringe away or avoid it. The general feel behind them.**

 **Midgardsomr transformed, I don't know how exactly but I know that it involved eating that Stheno witch's body. After the amount of damage it incurred during the fight with the bird over there, the power exploded with an indiscriminate desire to cause pain and violence being projected everywhere around it at once.** '

"For fuck's sake, Ddraig, that doesn't make me feel better at all! That asshole can pretty much freeze me in place with his _intentions alone_. He doesn't even have to act to stop me, just feel the _intent_ to do so! Jesus Christ, what kind of monster world is this?"

" **This is the world of those who are righteous, and true, and those with something to protect. This is the world of those who fight so that the ones they cherish do not have to.** "

Issei looked to the side, seeing Aquila back in her human form, her right arm visibly broken, a limp on her left leg and bloody patches all over her body. Ignoring Issei's assessment of her form, Aquila spoke up.

" **I chose to fight for Rome, not for honor or glory, but to protect. I became the Eagle of Victory, because victory was the only way to ensure the safety of my people. The first time I did not attain victory was in this battle against Midgardsomr, and Rome has fallen since in my absence.**

 **I do not intend to taste defeat today, Hyoudou Issei, as I still have something to protect. While the Roman empire may be no longer, the spirit of Rome still persists, living on within my heart, and it burns strong with the desire to destroy that abomination!** "

"..."

Issei could only watch, stunned, as the person who looked like she went through a meat grinder said that she still wanted to fight, and to win, against a monster like that, but she wasn't over yet.

" **I intend to destroy Midgardsomr... However, I cannot do it alone, Hyoudou Issei.** "

' _...She's right. Things might look bad, but that's no reason to give up! I still have much to live for! Dreams to concretize!... For my friends, Motohama and Matsuda; for my parents, mom and dad; for my newest companion, Lilith... And for my future Harem..._ '

Issei's left arm rose, the green jewel on the back of his Boosted Gear lighting up as a reflection of the rise of his determination.

' _I WILL SURVIVE! AND I WILL WIN!_ '

A green cloud of energy started flowing around Issei, the amount of pressure behind it impressive for how little it was in the face of such odds.

Aquila could do nothing other than respect the boy for the determination. Shaking herself out of her reverie, she spoke up.

" **I see you have come around to my point of view.** "

"Tell me what I have to do."

She looked at Issei, her gaze meeting his and looking for something, and she could not withold her small grin as she seemingly found it. Placing her hand on Issei's shoulder, she spoke up.

" **Midgardsomr has never been this powerful before, and if what I believe is right, he's having to fight Stheno for control over his body. It's probably the only reason why we're still alive, and our only opportunity. If either of them emerges victorious, we die. I don't have enough power to kill Midgardsomr as he is, and neither do you... Individually, that is.** "

' **...What are you getting at?** '

" **I'll summon as much power as I can and give it to Hyoudou, he uses the properties of his boosted gear to multiply it as much as he can, and then takes uses it to take down the snake.** "

' **Are you crazy? Issei's body won't be able to withstand all of that power... Before the increase! He's more likely to survive by escap-** '

"Do it."

' **Kid, are you crazy?** '

"I'm not crazy, Ddraig. I am only conscious that this is the only available option. Midgardsomr, Stheno, whoever it is in the end, it's the type of being that causes pain, loss and destruction to innocents. If it's Stheno, she's likely to hunt me down and kill everyone I love. If it's Midgardsomr, then I'll never be sure if it won't just drop in on my hometown one day and start munching on it's people, or maybe my friends or family travel somewhere and inadvertently run into it.

Hell, it could end up happening to the families of other people. Good people. If I can stop it right now... Then I'll do it! Not because it's my obligation, or anything of the sort... But because I want to! And that's the type of man that I am!"

" **...Are you certain of this, Hyoudou? As the Red Dragon said, you're more likely to survive by running away right now.** "

"If I run away from this, then even if my body is still alive, the Hyoudou Issei that I wish to be, as well as all of my future dreams... They will die instead."

" **...** "

' **...** '

None of the two powerful beings could really say anything negative after what they heard. The boy-... nay, it was wrong to call him a boy, for Hyoudou Issei was nothing less than a man, had made his choice.

Not feeling the need to make any further confirmations, Aquila limped towards Issei and placed a hand on top of his boosted gear before looking up to the sky and screeching once more.

A massive thunderbolt crashed on her, but instead of using that power to recover, she shunted all of it, and even a bit more, into the Boosted Gear.

 _ **~oOo~**_

It burned. Fire and lightning warred against eachother as they attempted to occupy the same space at the same time, and Issei's arm was the one suffering the consequences of that. The veins along his upper arm throbbed, visibly and painfully, while the boosted gear heated up to an orange color, with sparks of lightning being spat out randomly along it's length. The green gem of the boosted gear seemed to be crackling with some inner lightning, and it was enough to kill most adult men.

Hyoudou Issei isn't most men.

He bolstered his will with images of whom and what he fought for, both to protect, to achieve and to become, and using his will and determination as two grindstones on opposite sides, Issei placed the power inbetween them.

' _Grind more... Thinner point, for better piercing power..._ '

The power started taking shape within Issei's psyche, two contrasting flows of yellow lightning and green flames being forcibly ground to a shape different to the shapeless chaos they wished to be. They tried to simultaneously rebel against Issei's control, and against eachother, but the young man would not be deterred.

' _Twirl, spin, braid..._ '

The two powers, while being sharpened to the extreme, were also being swirled together in a braid of power. Two different 'materials', that together increased the maximum power of the structure.

However...

' _No, not enough... Grind more... Twirl, spin, braid... Mix!_ '

The lighting and fire were forcibly melded into one another. No matter how much they desired not to mix, how much they fought and resisted, Hyoudou Issei would not be denied.

' _Mixing percentage... 30/70...40/60...50%50!_ '

Normally, such a construct of two diferent powers, both of a destructive, chaotic nature that desired, more than anything else, to spread to everything nearby and propagate would be unable to be properly mixed, however Issei had something that many others did not.

A proper bonding agent in the form of wild, untapped Tantric Energy. After all, the energy generated from the sexual connection of two different individuals, real of imagined, surely could connect two different powers.

' _This... is..._ '

"HEY, MIDGARDPUSSY! YEAH, I'M TALKING TO YOU, YOU OVERGROWN GARDEN SNAKE! EAT ANY MORE SIBLINGS LATELY?"

At that moment, it didn't really matter whether Stheno or Midgardsormr was holding the reins, both were insulted and they simultaneously turned their attention towards the one who did it, maw gaping wide with the intent to completely obliterate the disrespectful whelp!

However...

 **[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]**

'FOR ALL THE GLORIOUS OPPAI IN THE WORLD!'

"SAY HI TO YOUR FRIENDS IN HELL! **THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!** "

 _ **~oOo~**_

 _Bright._ That is how anyone present would have described the scene. Whereas the powers previously thrown around generally dissolved, or broke, or exploded, or burned...

The energy released from the **Boosted Gear** by Issei in the form of an orange spear, the surface covered by simultaneous small flames and crackling electricity, and a small, but extremely dense, purple core of condensed **Tantric Energy** did not do any of those.

Instead, everything it touched... Simply _disintegrated._

 _Sthenorsormr_ 's body simply... vanished. No trace of it, not even a single scale, remained behind. It was in the path of the beam, so it was erased.

As was the ground, and the trees, and the rock, and the mountains, and everything else within a 3 mile wide cone, going as far as the eye could see distance-wise.

Aquila eyed the level of devastation the level of devastation wrought about by the sheer stubborn will of a young man with shock and incredulity.

' _That attack... Midgardsormr was extremely powerful, so the power would have used his maximum power output and half-again, maybe even two thirds... After using up all that energy, the attack still had the power to cause that much destruction?_ '

She looked at Issei, his gauntleted arm still raised and actually releasing steam, his shoulders moving up and down as he took deep breaths. He should, for all intents and purposes, be dead. His body should not have been able to cope with releasing an attack of that caliber. Issei was... well, to be quite blunt, in the large scale of things, Issei was a weakling. Yet, a weakling as himself managed to hold her back for quite a bit when they battled, managed to rally himself up after feeling the full brunt of malicious pressure, and managed to do something that should be impossible to all but the most capable of magicians, and mixed two different powers just because he could.

If this was what Issei could do as a weakling... Then seeing him actually getting strong... Achieving something like Balance Breaker... That was a terrifying thought.

The young man she happened to be thinking about took in a deep breath, before falling backwards... And then his chest stilled.

Ignoring how tired and battered she herself was, Aquila shambled towards Issei, before planting her ear on his chest.

' _His heart's still beating... But it's weak, very weak. It could stop at any moment, and he could die._ '

She blinked to herself as an idea came to mind. And idead that, despite the situation, left her guidy with excitment. Her sense of curiosity over just how much this would change things melded with her desire to help a young man who willingly helped her erase a mistake of hers permanently, and she decided to act.

She tore Issei's shirt open, noticing that the left sleeve was extremely burnt, despite the fact that the skin itself on had patches of pink, raw skin along it's length. Opening her mouth wide, a spark of electricity jumped between her canine teeth, before she sunk them into the bicep of his left arm.

When she pulled back, leaving behind a trail of crackling electricity, she watched as the electricity rearranged itself, copying her appearance at full power in the shape of a tattoo.

"What the hell... I give him a bit of power, and said power rearranges itself into an aesthetically pleasing shape... What? What?"

Deciding that she could try puzzling out the existance that was Hyoudou Issei later on, when there was less risk of her going insane, Aquila aquired her thunderbird form, albeit not as big as at full power, more alongside the size of a bald eagle, before hopping on top of Issei's chest and 'prodding' at him by connecting to the small shard of power she had donated to him.

She sensed... Well, it was some sort of thread, or string, and it was colored purple. Feeling for the location of the other side of the thread, Aquila vanished with the unconscious Issei in a shower of sparks, reappearing in front of a very surprised succubus. Before the succubus could do or say a thing, the thunderbird screeched, before vanishing with a flash of light and the lingering scent of ozone, leaving Issei behind.

A shirtless, sweaty Issei with a myriad of injuries and a tattoo that Lilith knew he didn't previously have.

Sighing in exhasperation and pinching the bridge of her nose, Lilith had to externalize her thoughts at the moment.

"Really, Issei? You take a pee break, vanish, and reappear 15 minutes later looking like you went through a war? Really?"

Biting her lip, she spoke in a slightly milder tone.

"At least your new tattoo looks good. Give you an earring and you'll get the whole bad boy look down pat."

She shivered at the image that thought elicited, her instincts begging her to act while Issei was unconscious.

What she did instead was lift him up, hoist him over her shoulders in a fireman carry, and make her way towards where she knew Luxuria was.

 _ **~Chapter: End~**_

 **Hah! Bet you didn't expect this, did you? You expected them to make it straight to the land of the sex and honeys! Well, that's too bad, because curveballs make for interesting content!**

 **In all seriously though, I'd like to know your thoughts on this chapter. Was it good? Was it bad? What did you think of the characters introduced in here?**

 **Leave all those answers to me in the review section please.**

 **FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	5. Missing pieces and a Tantric Awakening

**Heyo! I'm back, and you all know what that means...**

 **REVIEW RESPONSE CORNER!**

 **The Wolf Paladin says: "Things are going to be awkward for Issei if he ends up meeting the other Dragon kings Because last time I checked Migardsomr was a Dragon king known as the Sleeping dragon so was he the Dragon king or one of its clones ? The first case would be pretty bullshit since Balance breaker Issei isn't strong enouth to beat a Dragon king so base Issei wouldn't stand a chance and at best it would only wound him. The second case makes more sense and would avoid some problems in the future."**

 **A: It wasn't the dragon king Midgardsomr. It's a bit of the second case, but not exactly. I'll explain it better in the chapter itself. That's as much as I can say without giving spoilers!**

 **Anonreader47 says: "I feel like issei is developing a subspecies of boosted gear that emphasizes on domination with the whole using outside power rather than multiplying his own"**

 **A: I didn't think of it in that perspective, but to be fair, even if that were to be the case, it'd be more of a 'cooperation' subspecies. After all, domination means that the power was either forcibly taken, or given hesitantly or begrudgingly. Freely given/lent power, especially that which is used to fullfil a common goal, doesn't really scream out 'domination' to me.**

 **The Composcreator says: "All I really think is that issei should have had a harder time in this fight against Aquila."**

 **A: The reason why Issei didn't have a harder time is because that wasn't a fight. Aquila against Midgarsomr, that was a real fight. Aquila vs Issei is pretty much the equivalent of a championship-winning MMA fighter fighting a 12 year old yellow-belt karate practicioner. You take a few blows to bolster their confidence, and all while fooling around wasting time in the ring.**

 **Sephchipmunk says: "Shame about euryale i would've liked a moron in the harem"**

 **A: Well, the story is just starting, so nothing says that the harem won't be getting a moron on it. On the other hand, Issei pretty much fullfils the moron role pretty well, so... Who knows where the future takes us?**

 **Fenrir44 says: "The fuck did i just read it was quite strange and really the world serpent you know you just whacked the dxd canon by doing that him do you"**

 **A: As said before, that wasn't** _ **THE**_ **Midgardsomr. And, to be fair, the DxD canon got whacked the instant Issei decided to actually be proactive in his Harem efforts, instead of getting it handed to him by Lady Luck on a silver platter.**

 **DarkElucidator says: "Please tell me he actually gets to mix fucking elements as part of his power"**

 **A: Perhaps. Read on and find out *Wink-wink***

 **Exis21 says: "Just discovered this and I've got to say, I really like what you did with Issei. Keeping him in character while also making him enjoyable to read is something not alot of DxD writers are able to do. I also like how you expanded the world of DxD. Not many people would venture outside of the pre-established cannon settings and explore the more obscure parts of the world like you have. In regards to the recent chapter I do have a single question that crossed my mind when reading this chapter. How far did you read into the light novels? Or rather...did you read the light novels at all? I ask this simply because with cannon lore already established as it is, many light novel readers (myself being one of them) get turned off of a story when said firmly established lore is messed with. For example, in cannon Midgardsormir is still sleeping at the bottom of the ocean by this time in cannon and the only time we see is in the form of clones used by other people. Now aside from that this chapter really felt like it dragged on for longer then it needed to and felt like very little was actually accomplished in terms of story progress and honestly felt like a filler episode. Another problem I had was that Issei way WAAAY more powerful than he had any right to be in this chapter, especially when compared to his cannon self. I mean really? Going toe-to-toe with what is AT LEAST an Ultimate class being (if Aquila is this Mingardsormirs equal and if you may want to explain his appearance as being just another clone that got loose some time ago) and then firing an attack as powerful as he did and not dying or being seriously crippled for life? I get that protagonists have plot armor but even that was stretching my suspension of disbelief. With all that being said I do look forward to the next chapter and what you plan on next. And I hope we see Issei still being Issei while developing as a person."**

 **A: Oh wow, that's a lot of text. It's a bit scary seeing so much text when you have to respond to it, but it also makes me really happy that there are readers who like the story enough to put in this kind of effort. Reader feedback is a helluva drug. With that being said, there are two points to be adressed here.**

 **First, how far I read into the light novels. The answer is that I haven't read the light novels at all. I watched some of the anime (First season), read quite a few fanfics, and peruse the Wiki, since the lore of DxD is really engaging. That being said, I don't intend to screw with the lore** _ **that much**_ **. This Midgardsomr's appearance will be adressed and explained in this chapter. I still intend to make the first few arcs occur generally as they would in canon, but with different outcomes. After all, Issei is changing and that causes other changes in the world regarding places and people he's interacted with already, but he has had zero contact with the Kuoh crew, or with Kokabiel's little outfit.**

 **The second part is Issei's strength, and let me make this clear: Issei isn't really "strong", speaking in general terms. The only reasons as to why he's alive so far are his tenacity, his luck, and his shrewd mind. Sure, he has some strong attacks, and he can enhance himself to a certain degree, but he's still just a run-of-the-mill, regular human. No prior training, no distinguished bloodline from a god, or hero, or whatever else, nothing. He's gotten involved with two extremely life threatening situations, and he survived both by a hair's breadth.**

 **As said before, his going "toe to toe" with Aquila was just a really strong person obliging a total newby in all matters combat. The attack he fired really screwed him up good, the only reason he survived was because of Aquila's intervention, and even then it left consequences that will be made known later on. That's all I can say on the subject for now.**

 **Marawin says: "Thanks for the chapter, it's a really awsome story so far. But I don't really understand what quila did at the end, was it like a contract, contact thing or did she just give Issei some power? Apart from that I really like the flow of the story and the inclusion of some other myths and legends really makes this enjoyable."**

 **A: What Quila did will be explained and adressed later on in the story. That's all I can really say at the moment, sorry.**

 **TheB says: "Now now Issei, don't act as if that rant about breasts were just a distraction, it was 100% truth, with the distraction as an added bonus. :D Ddraig's comments make for excellent comedy, lol. I had actually expected for 'transfer' to shine, giving Aquila the power boost, not the other way around. This won't be the last time we see Aquila, I take it?"**

 **A: Transfer didn't feature yet because Issei doesn't have any practice with the Boosted Gear, so he's no even aware of most of it's capabilities. And no, this won't be the last time we see Aquila. She'll show up later on, don't worry about it.**

 **Another Guest1029 says: "Well, that was awesome! And I really appreciate someone who makes an Issei who wants to be strong, but also doesn't make him some OOC, edgy bitch because they're too stupid to know the show is about boobs. I don't understand the non-perverted Issei thing at all, it's like some angry prude thinking it's a good idea to rewrite porn with wholesome thoughts or something. Anyway, I had some questions. First off, when you write that Issei calls upon his draconic energy, do you mean that he's using BOOSTS but you're just not writing the word? I just want to be sure he's not pulling off some kind of magical cold-fusion here and pulling energy out of nowhere. Speaking of fusion, is that all tantric energy can do? I know you've got a power creep in mind but I think it would be kind of cheap if Issei could just straight up use tantric energy like it was magic straight from the start, or else why creep at all? I mean, given that it's TANTRIC energy, it wouldn't surprise me much if you could pull it out of an ass, but... ehhh, I think I'm just rambling at this point. I'm sure you get what I mean, and if not just PM me or something. Can't wait for your next chapter, see ya then."**

 **A: To the first question, you're partially correct in your assumption. I don't have the patience or willingness to have the word BOOST written over and over again every two or three sentences, preferring to save actual boosting for when it'd be most poignant and impactful, the other half is something that will be learnt of later on in the story that will bridge this information gap. As for Tantric Energy, it has it's set of properties and intrincacies that we'll be learning more of. It's already been established that Issei produces a lot of it, and it's already made a difference in a life or death situation, but I don't intend to make it continuously acting like a 'Get out of jail free' card for Issei. If he wants some Tantric goodness, he'll have to work for it. And he most definitely will, no matter what this chapter makes it feel like.**

 **Fangs of death says: "Love how you developed Issei's ability since beside dress break, fire ability and hearing thoughts from boobs, The rest of his abilities were from the boosted gear. Compression and the shotgun technique are pretty cool. Hope to see the thunder dragons roar again( you made me think of fairy tail anime with that.) SO will Issei, be able to use thunder with fire now since he can mix them? And the chapter was great, can't wait to see how Lilith will act when she learn what Issei just went through. Love how Ddraig act when he learned of Ise's situation."**

 **A: Well, technically speaking, his abilities are still from the boosted gear, just... utilized differently. More creative users warrant more versatile skillsets. In the anime we see people shape and throw around magic in all different sort of ways, so compressing, dividing and expanding (** _ **Not in the way Vali/Albion does, but your own power, at an internal level**_ **) should be pretty basic things that anyone could achieve. The thunder dragon's roar may or may not make future appearances, no promise. As for elemental mixing... We'll see.**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "so i realized this is set before kouh which is at least a year and a half before canon so he has time to build a extra harem and get stronger before he deals with canon, so ocs or mytho bases for the extra harem will we get extra girls that aren't in the canon harem either ones that want to and arent (cause rias lols) or that aren't interested canon but will be for this (cause im assuming we are getting canon girls no point not to) really hope so large harems are the best same with lemons, speaking of harems not even canon yet and he already has 2 girls sweet, isnt time barrier convenient he was gone at least 5 days and it only been 15 mins if he can gey in one if those to train he will be set to make the most of his break pre school, oh noo he killed a dragon king which was peaceful canon why was it evil here noo TT-TT tannins gonna be pissed norse gonna be pissed lokis gonna be pissed (well it is his son but he did betray him idk), speaking of dragons ddraig was gonna mention tiamat will she be a waifu? Did his shots get inspired from yu yu hakasho it seems like it compress is spirit gun and shotgun is the same will dragon shot be a canon or something? why just thunder dragon if it was lightning and fire it should be both also why roar if it was a spear; also will you intro Dragonslayer magic lols it be cool; does he now have minor access to ddraig fire and the lightning he was gifted; interesting he can use his own sex energy neat weird but neat"**

 **A: Holy crap that's a lot. Let's see... ' will we get extra girls that aren't in the canon harem' yes. Lilith and Aquila are pretty much evidences 1 and 2, and there will be more, both from the series itself, and OC, to join in later on.**

 **'isnt time barrier convenient he was gone at least 5 days and it only been 15 mins if he can gey in one if those to train he will be set to make the most of his break pre school'**

 **Yes, time barrier would be convenient, but that isn't really my focus. That temporal... dissonance, let's say, was a result of the nature of the Twilight Forest, and is something that's very difficult to achieve artificially, so it's outside the means of pretty much every faction, and could probably only be achieved with cooperation between them, which means that it most probably will not happen. Plus, I don't want his strength to come solely from time shenanigans, I'm instituting a few different mechanics to allow Issei's power creep to really shine in a few chapters time.**

 **'oh noo he killed a dragon king which was peaceful canon why was it evil here noo TT-TT tannins gonna be pissed norse gonna be pissed lokis gonna be pissed (well it is his son but he did betray him idk)'**

 **Read the chapter please. Don't wanna spoil stuff.**

 **'speaking of dragons ddraig was gonna mention tiamat will she be a waifu?'**

 _ **Maybe.**_

 **'did his shots get inspired from yu yu hakasho it seems like it compress is spirit gun and shotgun is the same will dragon shot be a canon or something?'**

 **Not exactly. I make the attacks with story function and coolness as the two primary factors both in mechanics and name, and if they end up being similar to/paying homage to some of the classics... Hey, they're the classics for a reason! This really happens a lot in this type of media, certain types of attacks are created/popularized by a certain anime/manga/game, and when other shows try to give their own twists, or versions of said attacks, they end up reminding the consumers of the OG one and get compared to it. As a general rule I try to keep my 'special moves' as original as I can, however in certain cases I will take inspiration from other works, and I will admit it with absolute pride. Case in point:**

 **'why just thunder dragon if it was lightning and fire it should be both also why roar if it was a spear**

 **also will you intro Dragonslayer magic lols it be cool'**

 **The move's name was totally a fairy tail refference, one that I felt would fit into the context in which the move was used, and help people visualize the attack itself if they knew whatever it was a refference to. To anyone who didn't, it was just a cool super attack name.**

 **I called it the thunder dragon roar because I partitioned it, The thunder part came from the Aquila Victis, who is** _ **definitely**_ **not a dragon, and the actual 'dragon' part came from Ddraig's 'Dragon Fire'. Roar because 1- dragons roar, 2- thunder could definitely be said to 'roar', metaphorically speaking, and 3- the attack itself would create sound comparable to the roar of a mighty beast. Will I introduce dragonslayer magic? Not sure. The world of DxD already has a few elements of magic focused specifically on dragon killing, such as the Ascalon, and the properties of Samael's blood, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to have people gifted with magic tailored just for that purpose. On the other hand, while I enjoy refferences to other works, straight up copying elements from them makes me feel lazy, as if I didn't have the creativity to make up stuff on my own, so dragonslayer magic is a definity maybe, and even if it does come into play, I'll try to do it as originally as possible, separate from fairy tail's.**

 **'does he now have minor access to ddraig fire and the lightning he was gifted'**

 **Read on and find out.**

 **That's it of the Review response corner for now! As you are aware, I only respond to reviews that are clearly questions, or which can be interpreted or construed as questions. I don't respond to statements, opinions or criticisms if they're not made with the an inquisitive intent. If you'd like to feature in the next response section, all you have to do is leave a question in the reviews, and I'll answer however possible.**

 **With that being said, Enjoy !**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"NOT THE PROBE!"

Jumping awake in bed, Issei took deep breaths in his attempt to purge his mind from the dream-turned-nightmare he just had, one involving very sexy, green-skinned, scantily clad alien girls with no sense of human modesty and propriety... And a disturbingly large collection of extremely painful-looking probes.

Getting his breathing back into control, Issei's brain went back to the last thing he remembered before waking up.

 _ **"THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!"**_

' _Huh, I did manage to survive it..._ '

' **But not wholy uninjured.** '

"Ddraig? What do you mean?"

' **...It was a good plan, the one you had. Focus the entirety of the power in the Boosted Gear, that way your body only had to deal with some recoil from the attack. However... It wasn't without it's flaw.** '

"...Wh-what went wrong?"

' **...Look down at your left hand.** '

Issei raised his arm, expecting to see his arm with some sort of injury or scar...

He didn't expect to see the **Boosted Gear** where his hand should have been. A heavy weight settling on his stomach, Issei spoke up.

"Ddraig, why is the **Boosted Gear** still active? Last time I passed out with it active, it was deactivated when I woke up."

' **...** '

"Ddraig, talk to me."

' **Issei...** '

"Just tell me already!"

' **Your arm is mangled beyond recovery.** '

The brunette blinked owlishly at that, his face unchanged as his brain struggled to cope with that information, while Ddraig continued.

' **As I said before, your plan went mostly without a hitch in that your body did not turn into dust from the overflow of power itself, neither from the recoil of actually firing the attack, only almost dying instead. However, your arm is connected to the boosted gear. Having so much power streaming exclusively through the boosted gear, while not putting the same stress directly on your arm, caused it to absorb quite a bit of the recoil. Your real arm is currently in a stasis, occupyin the metaphysical "space" that the Boosted Gear usually occupies within your soul whenever not active. It's... Not a pretty thing.** '

"..."

' **Allowing your regular arm to come back, aside from causing you a grievous amount of pain, would also, most likely, cause the boosted gear's state to change to reflect it, making it unusable in combat.** '

"So... I'm stuck with the **Boosted Gear** active... For the rest of my life?"

' **Yes.** '

"That means... That I won't be able to hide that I'm a possessor of a Longinus. That I can't go unnoticed by the supernatural world. My proximity would endager Mom, and Dad, and Motohama and Matsuda, and the rest of Kuoh. I... It means I can't go back home."

' **...** '

A despondent feeling clutched at Issei's heart, his eyes dulling while his shoulders slumped under the weight of that conclusion. Slowly, ever so slowly, a red haze started rolling into his toughts, swallowing the sadness and sorrow, and with Issei not wanting to feel those things, the haze found it's path unimpeded.

A green nimbus of energy sprang around Issei's body, scorching the sheets and matress under him while the red plating of the **Boosted Gear** slowly crawled up the remainder of his arm.

' _ **...So you get done in this early by your own sacred gear, and twice over even... The emotional pain resultant on having and using it in the first place, and the forbidden power that it brings... Juggernaut Drive...**_ '

The plating rose up, slowly swallowing the still unnoticed Thunderbird tattoo on his bicep, the amount of power being exerted by Issei increasing even more.

Then, noticed by neither young man nor dragon, a yellow glow started emanating from said tattoo, while a familiar voice came to the forefront of Issei's mind.

' ___**"I do not intend to taste defeat today, Hyoudou Issei, as I still have something to protect. While the Roman empire may be no longer, the spirit of Rome still persists, living on within my heart, and it burns strong with the desire to destroy that abomination!**_ _"_ '

' _...That's right._ '

The Red Haze stopped in it's tracks, it's willful takeover of Issei's mind forcibly halted by the host itself.

' _I chose to fight. I chose to help Aquila defeat Midgardsomr, knowing of the possible consequences._ '

His willpower flared alongside the, previously, steadily decreasing embers of determination within his spirit, his eyes gaining a new strength as he willingly shed his despair and sadness.

' _I was willing to face death before, this... This is nothing in comparison! I may feel pain, and I may miss them... But I won't give up. I'll... I'll learn! I'll research! I'll get strong enough to defeat my enemies! And then... I'll be able to meet them again!_ '

A small surge of electricity passed through his body, a tiny arc of lightning passing unnoticed from two different strands of hair, pushing the sacred gear's encroaching armor back into the gauntlet, while Issei forcibly purged himself of the Haze.

With his footing found, so to speak, Issei managed to calm back down, the green aura steadily dissipating from around him, even as the unnoticed mark died down in glow as well.

He finally took the time to look around himself, noticing the fact that he was within a luxuriously decorated room, sitting on what used to be a stupidly comfortable, stupidly big bed, gold and white marble pretty much everywhere he looked around the room.

Tossing himself off of the bed, Issei hissed in pain as his body made it's opinion known on the power surge from Issei's little brooding session, that being that it was a very stupid thing to do, before noticing a set of male clothes, in his size, sitting on a dresser.

He looked down at himself, noticing that the shirt he was wearing was the one he had been wearing back during the whole Midgardsomr debacle, the left arm a darkly charred mess, with the rest not looking much better, being mostly tattered shreds.

His pants were dirty, and, generally speaking, Issei stank. Cringing at his own smell, Issei perked up when he noticed a door with a plaque reading 'Bathroom'.

Undressing to the best of his possibilities with a sharp and cumbersome gauntlet in place of a left hand, Issei strolled into the bathroom to do everything he needed to feel human again, with just a few issues - ' _How the hell do I wash my ass with a hand like this?_ ' - before haltingly drying and dressing himself with a single usable hand.

He had had a white long-sleeved shirt laid out for him, alongside a pair of dark-brown dress pants, short grey socks and black hard-soled dress shoes, polished to a shine, with a pair of tighty-whitey briefs, the type he stopped using when he was about 7.

Shrugging at that, he did his best to fit into the clothes, ending up having to ultimately rip the left sleeve off of the shirt to fit his sacred gear through. Not being the kind of person who wears mismatched clothing, Issei ended up ripping the white sleeve off as well, leaving him with a makeshift white vest instead of a shirt.

After struggling with tying his shoelaces with a single hand, a final problem emerged.

"What do I do with the **Boosted Gear**? I can't just have it out in the open for everybody to see..."

That problem was solved by shredding his previous clothes into strips, shoving them in the bathroom sink with a mix of the cleaning products that he found under said sink in order to get rid of the previous dirt and horrid smell, twisting them dry and then shoving them under the hand dryer to finish the job.

Once he felt they were dry enough, Issei wrapped these bandages around his sacred gear in a sort of makeshift cast, tucking the ends tightly into the bandages before moving the arm around to ensure that they wouldn't just unravel at some innoportune moment.

Feeling quite content with his work, Issei finally made his way out of the room he was in, finding himself in a hallway that, in all possible way, screamed 'MONEY!'.

Various statues, most of them provocative nudes and tentacle creatures one would find in his preferred sort of animated films adorned the various hallways, most of them bearing accents in gold or platinum.

Paintings reminiscent, quality-wise, of ones one would find in a museum lined the walls, the subject matter being mostly the female body and various sexual acts that brought wonder and amazement to one's mind, and the frames being mostly golden, with carvings of scantily-clad, provocatively-posed women, and various phallic-looking objects.

The brunette swallowed nervously at that, loosening his collar - _and swearing he saw some steam emerging from within_ \- as he kept moving through the various corridors. He made his way through halls, dining rooms, ludicrous amounts of staircases and more than a handful of bathrooms, all decadently decorated, while the sounds of moans and gasps seemed to emerge from the walls of the place itself, causing him to have to slouch in his walking.

He eventually found a grandiose pair of doors reminiscent of the ones that lead to Stheno's throne room in placement, causing Issei to put up his guard before he opened the doors.

Stepping into the throne room, Issei was met with a formidable-looking woman, her hair a deep shade of pink that bordered on purple, her eyes a deep violet and bordered by smoky-grey eyeshadow. She was adorned in a black, skin-tight satin dress reaching her ankles, a slit to one of the sides allowing her leg some movement. Her dress had a plunging neckline, showing nearly-indecent amounts of cleavage ( _and what a cleavage it was, those babies had to be at least E-cups, if not more!_ ), a pair of black, elbow-length opera gloves adorned her arms, and her hair was was coiffed into an elegant bun.

She also had a massive, golden, jewel-encrusted crown on top of her head, and a scepter with a top in the shape of a single golden breast, with a ruby for a nipple.

Issei's tongue all but attached itself to the roof of his mouth due to a single fact.

 _This woman was sex given legs_.

Her posture, the way she sat, the naturally seductive look in her eyes, an air of dominance that he felt would not be limited to serious matters and would extend to more... _libidinous ones_ as well... all of those things had Issei slouching further, his brain repeatedly trying - and failing - to reboot.

"So... You are the man Lilith told me about... Hyoudou Issei, was it?"

"Y-yes, Ma'am!"

The serious tone had him almost straightening and firing off a salute, only the knowledge of Issei Jr.'s state preventing him from doing so in fear of offending the woman in front of him.

The queen seemed to give him an appraising look, before speaking up.

"As you must have surmised, you are currently within the royal castle of Luxuria, the Queendom of all Succubi. My name is Laveria Morrigan Lilim, Queen of Luxuria, current Matriarch of the Lilim line, successor of queen Liliana Lilim, my, dearly departed, mother."

Issei nodded his understanding at that, prompting the queen to speak further.

"...You seem... Uninteresting, so far. I see in you none of the qualities that Lilith must have seen, in order to break one of the Royal mandates as she has."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Oh, you didn't know? It's forbidden for a Succubus to bring an outsider into our land without permission from the Royal Family. Punishments for such violation are... Not at all pleasant."

Issei's eyes sharpened at that, his excitment subsiding as did a certain haze that he had not even felt establish over his mind, allowing his posture to straighten out. His voice was serious as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"The punishment for bringing in an outsider without permission from the Royal Family... Is death."

"What."

Ignoring the demanding tone is Issei's voice, Laveria spoke with faux sadness.

"Oh yes, capital punishment. A harsh, but just punishment. After all, she _did_ expose the location of our land to an outsider whose intentions are unknown. For all I know, you might be planning to exterminate, or enslave, my people."

"What? You can't kill Lilith! She was just trying to help me overcome a serious problem!"

"And what would that problem be?"

Issei looked down at his bandaged arm, the thought of keeping silent flitting past his mind for all of a microsecond, before loyalty to his friend drop-kicked it into orbit. He flexed his left fist, causing it's wrappings to all but burst, spreading bits and pieces of fabric around the floor of the throne room. Holding his arm out in a manner that allowed the queen to see the green gem at the back.

The queen, surprised by the display, whispered in a low tone.

" _Boosted Gear_..."

"That's right. I awakened my sacred gear shortly after meeting Lilith, and she made me aware of the danger that my life, and that of everyone close to me, was in. That the **Boosted Gear** would attract attention from the supernatural world, and that it was unavoidable. She offered to arrange a place where I could privately train with my **Boosted Gear** in order to both delay the supernatural world discovering me as much as possible, and to make me strong enough to defend myself when it inevitably did."

"Huh... A young man fighting to protect his family... I believe you."

Issei's face shifted slightly as he was filled with hope...

"However, that doesn't change the fact that she broke the rules."

Only to fall completely. Uncaring about his mood shifts, Queen Laveria continued.

"Normally you'd have to be executed as well, but since you harbor no ill intentions against Luxuria and it's people, and because you were unconscious during the voyage, thus are unaware of how to even reach our Queendom, I will allow you to leave with your life, after having your memory wiped of everything related to Succubi. Lilith, however, still goes under the blade."

" _ **Over my dead body.**_ "

The queen blinked owlishly at the threatening tone, her focus centering completely on Issei, and she had to admit that the murderous look in his eyes sent chills down her spine. However, concealing this, she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, what was it you said?"

" _ **I said that the only way you would kill Lilith would be over my dead body, and I'm not going down easy.**_ "

"Over your dead body, you say... _**That could be easily arranged.**_ "

With those words a massive weight settled on Issei's shoulders, reminiscent of the sheer malice exerted by Sthenogardsomr, except for the fact that instead of being released omnidirectionally, with no definite target, this one was focused completely on him, causing his shoulders to hunch, his knees to bend and a darkness to creep into the corners of his vision.

His breath came out in wheezes, and he felt as if a hand gifted with exceptionally sharp claws started squeezing his heart, making him feel faint.

However...

"Y-You think... I'm gonna let... SOME SHITTY KILLING INTENT LIKE THIS STOP ME!?"

 _ **[BOOST!]**_

A familiar green aura of energy emerged from Issei's body, slowly but steadily lessening the amount of pressure he felt being exerted over his body, allowing him to return to a regular standing position. Small sparks of electricity jumped and arced along the edges of his gauntlet, filling the air with an ominous hum, as Issei spoke.

"I won't let you kill Lilith!"

 _ **[BOOST!]**_

"I'll save her life! Free her!"

 _ **[BOOST!]**_

"And if it costs me my life... SO BE IT!"

 _ **[BOOST!]**_

The pressure released by Issei himself was, by this point, enough to crack the floor under him. His irises had gained an emerald-green sheen, with small veins of yellow arrayed around the outter rim, while his hair swayed and waved under a non-existant wind. The queen, ignoring Issei's glare, leaned backwards into her seat, a smirk of amusement coming over her face as she spoke.

"It seems my future son-in-law is more impressive than I expected."

"MOTHER!"

Issei's face whipped harshly to the source of the shout, his gaze ending up on a heavily-blushing Lilith, before turning back to the smug-looking queen, before going back to Lilith, again and again. Not noticing Issei's brainfreeze in her own mental state, Lilith stomped angrily - _petulantly_ \- towards the throne, while speaking in a half-angry, half-annoyed state.

"You went too far, mother! I agreed with your silly idea of a test just to quell your concerns over Issei, but you never said anything about threatening his life, or releasing your power in his presence! You could have broken his mind through sheer lust!"

Laveria, still smirking, waved her hand dismissively even as she spoke.

"Scowl and complain at me all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you absolutely enjoyed hearing that he'd willingly lose his life to save yours."

A rush of blood caused the entirety of Lilith's head to pretty much glow with heat, a cloud of steam coming out of her ears even as she pouted at mother.

Finally restarting his brain, Issei turned towards Lilith, before asking in an uncertain tone.

"Lilith... What the hell is going on here?"

The purplette winced at that, before speaking up.

"You see, I kind of didn't tell my mother that I was bringing you over, so she never had the time to evaluate you at one of Luxuria's immigration posts to know whether you were trustworthy or not, but with you being in the state you were I thought that it was best to bring you in and take care of your injuries - which you will be explaining to me how you got - instead of forcing you to wait there. I told mother some of your situation and the fact that I wished to help you, but she wanted to ensure that you weren't a risk to Luxuria, and that you were worth disponibilizing our resources to."

She turned to glare at her mother, who seemed to completely ignore said glare and focused on Issei, before continuing.

"I never knew she'd go this far. I thought she'd ask you a few questions while using her Allure to ensure that you told the truth or something, I didn't think she'd be as extreme as to unleash her aura unto someone who's mostly a regular human!"

"So... You're not getting executed?"

"No, Issei. I'm sorry that you had to-"

She was interrupted by Issei pulling her into a tight hug, his tone honest and heartfelt as he spoke.

"Thank god. After everything I've gone through already... I don't think I'd manage without you around."

Laveria's smug smirk evolved into a full-blown shit-eating grin even while Lilith spluttered embarrassedly, her face as red as a tomato. This changed when the green aura around Issei vanished and the boy slumped almost bonelessly onto the Succubus princess.

 _ **~Later~**_

"...So my real hand is crippled, and I can't deactivate the **Boosted Gear** , which is why I had to rip the sleeves off of my shirt, and why I was walking around with my hand covered in makeshift bandages smelling of bleach and fabric softener."

Lilith looked simultaneously shocked and stricken at everything Issei had to go through on his own, while Laveria seemed to be more doubtful than anything else, something which she made known.

"You managed to defeat Midgardsomr, _after_ he gained a power boost? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit. Even with some sort of suicide technique, someone with the maximum power output that you have wouldn't be able to scratch one of the Five Dragon Kings.

' **He didn't.** '

The three looked down at the red gauntlet on Issei's left arm, watching the green jewel light up as the voice of Ddraig, the Red Heavenly Dragon, made itself heard.

"But... You and Aquila kept saying that it was Midgarsomr, as did Stheno! Was it Midgardsomr, or not?"

' **It was Midgardsomr, but at the same time, it wasn't.** '

The three waited as Ddraig seemingly searched for the best way to explain things.

' **The Invading Snake... It's a result of Sympathetic Magic. A very powerful person or group of people probably managed to get hold of something linked to Midgardsomr, the real one, and used a magical ritual to transpose some of his properties onto a being of similar nature as him, either a serpentine dragon, or a draconic serpent.** '

While Lilith and Laveria seemed to have fully understood what he meant, Issei visibly didn't, and he made it known.

"Umm... I'm kind of new to this whole magic thing, in case you didn't notice, so could you please explain it in a way that I can understand?"

Ddraig sighed at his host's ignorance, while Laveria took up the explanation.

"Sympathetic magic, Issei, is a branch of magic focused on rituals centered around influencing an event or person through an object, symbol or action that relates to the outcome you want to achieve. Let's say you want to make it so that some girl flashes her breasts at you. By using something related to that girl, like a strand of hair, you could influence her into doing so through sympathetic magic. If you used something even more closely related to the result that you want, like a bra or a pair of panties of hers, you make the ritual you used to influence her even stronger, and more effective."

"Oh!"

A lightbulb seemed to light up on top of Issei's head at that, causing Ddraig to sigh mournfully at his host's single-minded focus, before he continued his explanation.

' **As I was saying, by using something very closely linked to Midgardsomr, you could create some sort of mimic of him, which is, most likely, the origin of the Invading Snake. It took up the name Midgardsomr for the sheer fact that it was the living being most closely resembling the real thing, and that it was active even while the real Midgardsomr is having his nap...** _ **Freaking Lazy Bastard**_ **...** '

Laveria spoke up at that.

"So you were being truthful when you said you fought against the Aquila Victis and managed to impress her... And you were capable of using an attack powerful enough to completely annihilate the Invading Snake..."

Turning towards Lilith, Laveria grinned even as she gave the girl a thumbs up, before speaking.

"I completely approve, my daughter!"

Blushing profusely, Lilith spoke up in a whining tone.

"Mother, it's not like that!"

"Oh-ho~"

Trepidation flourished in Lilith's heart at the gleam she saw in her mother's eye, before said woman spoke up.

"If it isn't like that, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if your dear old mother made a move, hmm?"

"WHAT!? NO! YOU CAN'T! YOU'RE TOO OLD FOR HIM!"

Lilith only noticed her mistake after she had already finished speaking, her words causing her mother's teasing look to shift to one of personal affront at the implication that she'd be unable to snag Issei due to her age, before changing to a look of determination to do just that.

Lilith felt like crying.

"What're you two talking about?"

Issei, bless his soul, was completely oblivious to the two females' subject matter - _himself_ \- his confused head tilt causing the instincts of both Succubi to try to rear their heads.

Lilith shrugged them off first, speaking up in a flustered tone.

"N-nevermind that! We have other things to take care of right no- Hey wait, is that a tattoo on your arm?"

Issei blinked in confusion at the non-sequitur, while Laveria spoke up, her own brief internal battle overcome.

"I was curious about that one too. It lit up when he started channeling power back during his test. Now that I think about it, his hair was sparking slightly, as well as the **Boosted Gear**."

"Do you think it has something to do with the Aquila Victis, mother?"

"Could be, I can't really say for sure. I will, however, be looking in the royal library for information on it, which brings us very neatly to the next point of the discussion. Issei will need private lessons in magic control. Urgently."

"Why's that?"

Laveria snorted at the question from the ignorant young man, before speaking up.

"I'm sure Lilith has told you already that you release a lot of Tantric Energy, hasn't she?"

At Issei's nod, the Lilim Matriarch continued.

"That was an absolutely gross understatement. The moment my daughter got close to our kingdom, every single succubus within a certain range of our outter walls could feel you. Bringing you to the castle was a chore in and of itself, preventing pretty much my entire population from trying to feed on your unconscious self."

A blush came over Issei's face as he heard that, images of a naked Lilith in his mind as he thought of the women of Luxuria 'feeding' on him. However, Laveria continued.

"The only reason your Tantric Energy isn't blanketing the entirety of Luxuria is because of the castle's wards, but that didn't help much with the efficiency of the castle itself. Ever since you were brought in, my maids, servants and attendants have been in a near-constant sapphic orgy of epic proportions, hoping dearly to get a shot at you."

"..."

"..."

"MY BODY IS READY!"

Lilith had to fight hard to keep Issei from ripping his clothes to shreds and sprinting out of the throne room, all under the amused gaze of Laveria, while Ddraig internally cried.

 _ **~2 days later~**_

If Issei were told to describe his magic lessons with a single word, said word would be... Boring.

Absurdly so.

When someone hears 'Magic Lessons', they think about learning how to say a bunch of words that allow them to throw around fireballs, thunderbolts, and just generally make reality their bitch.

"Tantric Energy is unlike mana in the fact that while mana, for the most part, acts like a magical blank slate upon which to imprint your will, Tantric Energy possesses a set of properties specific to itself..."

They don't expect to be stuck inside a classroom, a myriad of books shoved under their nose while listening to hours upon hours of information deluges.

Hey, at least he could claim that his teacher was hot!

"Mr. Hyoudou, please concentrate on your lesson. Lady Laveria has assigned me the task of helping you bring your Tantric Energy under control as soon as possible, and I do not intend to disappoint her."

Letting out a loud sigh, Issei spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to be a bother to you, miss Bernice, but... It's just so boring!"

Miss Bernice Alohen, blonde hair in a bun with loose strands falling over, blue eyes, red, juicy lips, wearing a white button-down shirt, a form-fitting black skirt stopping mid-thigh and a pair of black stiletto heels, was the royal family's instructor, and she could truly empathize with the young man sat in front of her. After years of teaching the various children of the royal family in the basics of magic, she knew that children were, generally speaking, too energetic to sit still and read, especially such a virile-smelling young man, releasing _such delightful Tantric Energies~_...

An idea came into her mind, causing her to grin inwardly. Sighing out in fake exhasperation, she breathed in deeply as if fortifying herself, before speaking up.

"Very well then, Mr. Hyoudou. It seems we'll have to do things the hard way."

She sashayed towards the young man, her fingers undoing the top few buttons of her shirt to reveal a sizeable amount of cleavage, even as her skirt started slowly riding up her thighs, revealing more of her tanned flesh and causing Issei to gulp, beads of sweat rolling down his neck and forehead even as his lower friend came to full wakefulness. Taking a steadying breath, Issei couldn't have prevented the crack in his voice as he spoke.

"The _Hard_ way?"

Arriving to her sole student's desk, Bernice shifted to the side before seating herself on top of it, her skirt riding even higher and revealing more of her flesh, before she leaned downwards in front of Issei, putting his line of sight strictly on level with her cleavage as she spoke.

"Yes, Mr. Hyoudou, the _hard_ way. I wish for you to focus completely on learning, but I understand how the mind of a young man such as yourself works, so... I will make a deal with you. I will test you in your magical knowledge, a week from now. If you manage to get a grade above 90%, I will give you a _marvelous_ prize."

The way she said marvelous had Issei sweating even more profusely.

"However, you failing would leave me... _displeased_. And I'm _sure_ you want to _please me_ , don't you, _Issei_?"

"Yes, I do! So very much!"

She smiled at that declaration, before wrapping her arms around Issei's head and hugging him into her open cleavage.

"Oh, Issei, you are a delightful student!"

The brunette could barely keep himself from crying tears of joy, his perverted spirit feeding off of the plentiful amount of blessed Oppai in direct contact with him.

It was in this day that Issei decided to tough out his magical studies, no matter how difficult they are.

~ _ **4 days later~**_

"Issei, are you awa..."

Lilith had to stop whatever it was she intended to say at the sight that met her eyes. Issei was sitting in front of his work desk, a myriad of books open in different chapters, the young man seemingly skipping from book to book as he took refferences, before writing furiously on a small notebook.

She walked into his room in silence, watching Issei work like a man possessed, before looking over his shoulder to see whatever it was that he was writing...

Only to be met with a myriad of poorly-made drawings of stick figures in different poses, with sound effects in speech bubbles around them, with the occasional 'fluidity', 'intent' and 'potency' thrown into the mix.

She couldn't really stop herself from speaking.

"What are you doing?"

The brunette jumped in place, his instinct to aim his **Boosted Gear** at the source of the sound kicking in, before he noticed the fact that his left arm was bandaged up to the elbow to keep his sacred gear a secret from the castle staff ( _Which he still saw very little of, despite hearing the giggles, sighs and moans echoing around the castle_ ). He relaxed at seeing Lilith's particular shade of purple hair, letting out a breath of relief, before speaking up.

"By Oppai's blessed sanc-titty, you scared the crap out of me!"

The purplette smile sheepishly at that.

"Err, Sorry... Anyways, what was that you were writing?"

"Oh, that? Well, I don't completely get the complicated stuff in these books, so I'm trying to see if I get the gist of stuff, and then noting it down in a way that I understand, and that I can actually remember when I study."

"But... drawings, really?"

Shrugging shamelessly, Issei pointed at his bandaged hand with his pen.

"I've been using this thing freestyle, in life or death situations. I didn't have the time to think things through, I just followed my gut and did what I thought I could. I'm trying to give the words in the book the same ' _don't think, just do_ ' feel, y'know?"

"I...See..."

She didn't, really, but she didn't let that stop the conversation.

"So, how good have you gotten at manipulating your Tantric Energy so far?"

Issei started tapping at his lip with the pen as he thought it through, before shrugging and speaking up.

"No idea. Haven't tried applying any of the things I've read about yet."

Lilith had to facepalm at that, speaking in an exhasperated tone.

"You _do_ know that the primary purpose of your Magic lessons are to rein in your energy, right?"

Shrugging at that, Issei stood up and grabbed his notebook.

"No time like the present to try, huh?"

Lilith shrugged, seating herself on Issei's ( _replaced_ ) bed, while the brunette closed his eyes and then took a few deep breaths, centering himself.

 _ **Inhale.**_

 _ **Exhale.**_

 _ **Inhale.**_

 _ **Exhale.**_

 _ **Inhale.**_

 _ **Exhale.**_

Soon enough Issei felt the world around him vanish almost completely, sound, touch, scent, all of it gone, replaced for a silent void.

 _ **~oOo~**_

In this void he noticed a person-shaped figure of light, which he moved towards.

Arriving at this figure, he noticed that while the figure itself shone a bright, white shade, with slightly grayed edges, it was surrounded by a thin green outline starting on the left hand, which seemed to be made of this green, but mixed with a bright red, which felt like fire. However, he noticed a bright yellow light higher up, at his bicep, and this one smelt like the air after a lightning storm, and felt like it emitted a small vibration, akin to the way a massage chair does.

However, these weren't what he was looking for.

He tried focusing specifically on a different power, one he knew intimately, despite the fact that he didn't know that he did. It was a power familiar to him, one that he felt in the Haze that came over his mind when he first met Lilith, and around her mother, and around Bernice...

He knew what the power was, he felt as if he could almost taste it, but, in that state of consciousness, the name evaded his mind, and the power itself did the same as a consequence.

He thought back to when he felt this power more clearly, but from within, not from outside, and his mind stumbled upon a memory from a few days ago...

' _ **THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!**_ '

Yes, that was it! He felt that power from the inside, but how...?

Running off of instinct, Issei grabbed some of the yellow light, just a tiny bit, and a similar amount of the red/green one, and he tried pushing them together. He watched as they rebelled, trying to push eachother away, each trying to spread freely, however he did not allow them to. He forced them together as he twirled them, forming a sort of vertical double-helix, however the two still tried to go out of control.

However, that changed suddenly. In-between the two spiraling stripes of power, hundreds, dozens, thousands, millions of thin, purple bars spawned, bridging the two together, connecting them to the deepest level.

' _This is it! This is the missing light!_ '

Allowing the colored helix to sort itself out, Issei grabbed tightly onto one of the purple bars, and he _stared_ at it. A purple light started emerging from the bar, threatening to blind him, however Issei did not dare look away, because he felt that if he did, he would never be allowed to lay his gaze upon it again.

So he looked, and he stared, and he refused to look away even as the light got more intense, he refused to blink even as his eyes wattered up, he refused to do so even as the light seared itself into his retinas, and grew, and grew, until it started engulfing everything else.

He felt this purple energy expanding, starting on the left side of his chest, over his heart, before spreading throughout his body. He felt it suffusing the entirety of his torso, and his right arm, and legs, and they felt amazing. He then felt purple light cover his head, and while it felt like liquid engulfing him, he could still breathe. He could breathe even better now than he did before!

Then, the light started flowing down his left arm, and he felt more than he saw the yellow light bond even more deeply with the white body of light under the influence of the purple light, a foreign feeling of cautious curiosity and confusion flowing into his mind, however he ignored these for now, focusing more on watching the purple light go down the rest of his arm, he watched as the red/green fire focused on the back of the left hand started swallowing some of the purple light, causing the raging flame to slowly reduce in size and intensity, ending as a simmering ember of indigo light, providing a soothing warmth and light in the cold, but ready to rise and rage as needed, and swallow whoever disrespects the might of one of the four primary elements of nature.

As soon as the purple light finished touching the left hand, Issei saw the purple light start spreading outwards from the figure of light he now knew represented his own soul, a nimbus of power - _Tantric Energy, as he recently found out/always knew_ \- manifesting itself and soothing the aches and pains that he had built up during the day.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Opening his eyes, Issei noticed the fact that his room had more people than it had before.

Like, a lot more people, as in 'the entirety of the castle's inhabitants' more.

All of them were fixatedly staring at Issei, their eyes glowing a brilliant violet, their wings, tails and horns on display, and their own auras of Tantric Energy surrounding them.

Taking hold of the power as if it were something he had been doing his entire life, Issei reeled the Tantric Energy he had been freely emanating back in, reducing it to a very thin aura, acting more like a second skin than anything else.

The various Succubi in the room started snapping out of their trance, all of them looking at Issei as if he were the second coming, awed at the incredible display of raw Tantric Power that didn't seem to even faze the young man. This awe was very soon overriden by an almost-unquenchable thirst that almost all of them acted upon, shedding - _and in some cases actually shredding_ \- their clothes and attaching themselves to the women closest to them, bodies touching, squeezing and writhing, moans, gasps and sighs filling the room like a symphony of pleasure, and Ode to lust.

A purple glow vanished from Issei's own irises, allowing them to return to their natural brown, before he spoke up.

"I know what I must do now."

The brunette, his face completely serious, reached for the hem of his shirt with his right hand, before he started lifting, causing the women around him to increase the pace of their actions, excitment building at the possibility of him joining in.

"Oh no you don't!"

Issei felt a pair of fingers twisting his ear hard, before dragging him out of the room. Looking at the owner of the fingers, Issei could only whine out.

"Lilith~, let me join the orgy~"

"Like hell I will! I have a claim on your virginity, and like hell I'll let you lose it in there!"

"I wanna join! I wanna join! I wanna join!"

The door closed behind the whining Issei and the embarrassed Lilith, causing Laveria to chuckle in amusement, before licking her lips. Before long she had shed her clothes and joined the writhing mass of bodies, causing the amount and volume of moans to increase exponentially.

Issei cried himself to sleep that night.

 _ **~CHAPTER, END!~**_

 **So, tell me, was the chapter worth the wait? Did I clear your doubts? Is the story worth returning to in future chapters? You can tell me all that and more in the reviews, and, if you want to, in PM's!**

 **FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	6. Hot for teacher Bootcamp from hell!

**Guess who's back, back again~**

 **I'm back for a new chapter!**

 **Like always, let us start with the Review Response section!**

 **ENDDRAGON369 says: "Are there elements from Type-moon."**

 **A: Not really. I'm not very knowledgeable in Nasuverse things. But the future is still uncertain, so... maybe later on, who knows?**

 **snowyassass1n says: "Poor poor IsseiXD, Although seriously tho is this gonna be like one of those anime where the main character isn't shy about female contact at all but still finds a way to always get fucked over anyways when it comes to engaging with them due to some sort of promise or other plot bullshit? If it is I'm out."**

 **A: Hell no! I dislike that sort of premise as well, let the MC get some! That being said, I have big plans regarding Issei losing his virginity, which is one of the reasons as to why it hasn't happened yet.**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "sorry about random error touch screens suck**

 **so you did answer my questions thanks**

 **larger harem nice**

 **i liked the reason behind the name it make sense**

 **he can use the powers**

 **but a question from that is it a finite amount of lightning or was it a blessing giving him power from the tattoo**

 **so until his arm get healed he cant go back that doesn't sound good fuck well at least he didn't give in he can get is healed**

 **that test while probably scary was cute man at least the aftermath**

 **i do like it wasnt the real one so everything is fine phew still powerful**

 **wow his lust energies is off the charts for that to happen haha**

 **pervs incentive man but damn the effect it was pretty cool lust overload might as well just be a incubus lols**

 **too bad no rando succubus orgies maybe later?**

 **but just wait till he tell of old crow or old man of the north so jealous haha**

 **so a question i forgot to ask genderbends or no?"**

 **A: Whew. Let's see...**

 **'but a question from that is it a finite amount of lightning or was it a blessing giving him power from the tattoo' You'll have to wait to learn about the tattoo. No spoilers here!**

 **'too bad no rando succubus orgies maybe later?'** _ **Mhm...**_

 _ **'**_ **so a question i forgot to ask genderbends or no?' For now, I'll have to say no. I'm not much a fan of the genderbend format, generally speaking. The only genderbends I like are those of characters who are, in a general form of speaking, already feminine. For example Haku from Naruto, that's a genderbend that I can enjoy. But if you try to get like a female version of Sairaorg or Vasco Strada, that's where I draw the line for the most part. So...**

 **DarkxKitsune15 says: "Awesome chapter as always I can't wait to read more in the future so I do have a question will he be able to heal his mangled arm with his own tantric energy in the future or is it just going to stay mangled"**

 **A: I really don't want to give story spoilers, so you'll just have to keep reading to find out.**

 **Another Guest1029 says: "HA! This definitely had some good old DxD humor in it! Not much to say since the chapter was mostly exposition, but the exposition was good. Although my mind grinned to a halt when Lilith said dis-pon-ibilizing. Is this a real word or a spelling mistake, cause I looked it up and the first thing I found was Portuguese translations.**

 **Also, something naughty is at least going to happen between Issei and Lilith, right? Cause having shenanigans get in the way of a Harem MC fully determined to be one, in the sex capital of sex demons no less, is just ridiculous and annoying."**

 **A: About the first thing, it was my bad. My main language is Portuguese, so I sometimes confuse terms between languages. What I meant when I wrote 'Disponibilizing' was 'making available', except I fucked it up and mixed the two languages together. Naughtiness between Issei and Lilith will happen, but I'm saving it for a future, special occasion.**

 **MrSpice says: "Phahahaha the ending is fucking amazing xD. This like something entirely new in a long time. I've been here 3 years on the dxd fanfiction hahahaaha. This fucking briliant, just briliant my dude. I want more. All though the Eagle tatto... What does it do?"**

 **A: A lot of people are curious about the Eagle Tattoo... Good. Means I'm doing my job properly. You'll just have to keep reading if you want to find out.**

 **Guest (** _ **and actual guest reviewer, not someone with the screen name Guest**_ **) says: "So, he destroyed his arm? Well fuck, will he recover it somehow?"**

 **A: Who knows? The future isn't a certainty, and many things can happen. You'll just have to stick around and find out!**

 **And with that I end the Response Review section! Now, we get to our (** _ **Not so regularly scheduled**_ **) programming!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Very good so far, Mr. Hyoudou... Now, let's see... What metrics can one use to measure and qualify Tantric Energy, and what do they represent?"

Issei, completely focused on the prospect of Acing his evaluation, responded in a serious tone.

"Tantric Energy can be measured on a basis of quantity, potency and purity. Quantity relates to the raw amount of Tantric Energy one releases through libidinous thoughts/actions, with people who perform more of those releasing a higher amount of Tantric Energy than someone who only occasionally allows themselves to think/do perverted things.

Potency relates to how powerful the Tantric Energy released is. It relates to the relative level of perversion of the thought/action, with more perverted ones generating more potent Tantric Energy. Differences in potency influence just how much activity can be performed using Tantric Energy, since more potent Energy can achieve a certain goal in smaller amounts than it's less potent variant.

Purity relates to the emotion backing the thought/action that actually led to the release of the Tantric Energy. If those emotions are wholesome, such as love, passion, a desire to connect with another and grant them pleasure, then the Tantric Energy generated is generally pure. If the lust is backed by negative things such as Ire, anger, wrath, hatred, envy, or would result in a violation of any kind, it becomes less pure, eventually corrupting the heart of the one actually generating it. "

"Excellent. Final question, what are the traits of Tantric Energy, and how can they be utilized in practice?"

"Tantric Energy possesses a single primary trait, which is 'Union', or 'Togetherness'. That trait led to the development of three primary branches of magic circling around making connections.

The first branch is 'Togetherness with Oneself', which spawns two primary fields of magic, Reinforcement and healing, and makes the Succubi some of the best healers in history, aside from passively bestowing them an accelerated regeneration.

The second branch is 'Togetherness with the World', which lends itself to two specific fields of magic as well, camouflage and sensory.

The third branch is 'Togetherness with Another', which allows for emotional manipulation of others, Illusions, and a certain level of empathy, with the first two depending on the imposition of the caster's will over the will of their target."

"Excellent, Mr. Hyoudou! You went above and beyond what I expected!"

The professor paused briefly, before flashing an alluring smirk at Issei as she spoke.

"I believe that deserves a reward..."

The brunette was all but hopping in place, his eyes wide in excitment, two little rivulets of drool escaping his mouth as Miss. Bernice sashayed towards him, her pink tongue escaping the confines of her mouth and gliding over red, juicy lips in a manner that caused Issei Jr. to jump straight in consistency from clay to diamonds.

 _ **~LEMON ALERT~**_

The woman stopped in front of Issei's desk, her fingers playing with the buttons of her shirt while her hips swayed left and right in an extremely hypnotic manner, causing Issei's eyes to dart up and down as they tried to find somewhere to settle on.

She surprised Issei by grabbing onto the two sides of her shirt and ripping them apart, causing the buttons to fly past and around the now-frozen Issei.

"Th-They're... Marvelous..."

The brunette could feel very little other than amazement, deference and respect for the pair of breasts that had just been bared completely to him. They had to be at least double D's, tipped with dark pink nipples, with no veins on dispay.

" _So, Issei, are you going to just look-_ " Bernice emphasized her words by gliding her hands along the sides of her breasts "- _or do you want to do more?_ "

She didn't really have to say anything more.

Issei dove onto her breasts with the ferocity of a thousand starving beasts, his right hand taking hold of her left breast, while his mout went straight for the right one, sucking on the pale, supple skin of the large mammary.

While his hand had it's fill of squeezing and groping, Issei's mouth nipped and sucked hard on the flesh of Bernice's other breast, leaving a myriad of hickeys and wet spots, all the while trailing closer and closer to the nipple.

The level of arousal caused Issei to lose the precarious grip that he had achieved over his Tantric Energy, inadvertently flooding the entire classroom with a high amount of extremely potent Tantric Energy.

The effects were almost instant.

Bernice's wings unfurled from her back, her tail slid out from under her skirt, while a pair of curving horns emerged from the back of her head, moving alongside her temples before stopping slightly ahead of her forehead, both pointing forward.

Her pupils turned into slits, while her irises gained a violet glow, her instincts rearing their head.

All of this went unnoticed by Issei, as did the fact that a purple-hued nimbus of energy started surrounding him, but he felt a certain voice in the back of his head start to guide his actions. Feeling that this voice came from within, Issei decided to follow it's instructions.

The young man released Bernice's left breast completely, before, instead of groping it in it's entirety, lightly gliding the tip of his index finger along the outter rim of her areola, his touch feather-light and, unknowingly, suffused with the same lust-based energy that filled the room.

A light moan emerged from the succubus at the inordinately skilled touches of what should have been a fumbling, overeager, virginal boy.

Taking Bernice's voice as confirmation to keep following the voice's instructions, Issei allowed the tip of his finger to make full contact with her areola, rubbing circles around the slightly ridged flesh, even while he licked at the canyon between the two large mammaries.

Feeling a further nudge, Issei dove into her right breast face-first, fully taking the erect nipple into his mouth and sucking on it hard, while his other hand trapped her left nipple between his thumb and forefinger, rolling the nub between them.

What were light moans leaving Bernice's throat turned into deep, guttural ones, the amount of pleasure she recieved feeling disproportionately high for the skill that Issei _should_ possess.

Feeling another nudge from the voice, Issei kicked things up a notch by lightly grazing his teeth along the instructor's nipple, while flicking it with the tip of his tongue, while his hand lightly pinched and tugged on the other one.

Bernice felt a familiar feeling starting to build up on the lower part of her torso, rapidly growing and intensifying.

" _Oh... Ohh... Ohhhh..._ _ **OHHHHHHHHHH**_ _!_ "

A feeling akin to a coiled spring decompressing slammed into Bernice, stars exploding behind her eyes as what could only be described as _pleasant electricity_ ripped through her entire body, causing her body to seize as her breath hitched, her back arching as her mouth opened into a wide O.

" **IYAHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN**!"

Screaming the strongest orgasm of her life out, Bernice felt the strength leaving her legs, causing her to fall to her kness, her face covered in a blush and sweat, her now-loosened hair matted to her forehead and to the back of her neck, an absurd level of slick wetness stained her panties, skirt and ran down her thighs, making a large puddle under her.

Issei's eyes were shadowed by his hair at the extremely erotic scene, before the brunette slammed the desk that was in front of him away, causing it to slam into one of the room's walls and burst into splinters.

Using his right hand, Issei worked on unbuttoning the cargo shorts he had been wearing, allowing them to drop and reveal the thick volume inside his underpants. Seeing the volume, Bernice could only smile semi-brokenly, the smell of masculinity wafting from Issei's member and flowing into her nostrils.

The brunette followed up by lowering his underwear, revealing a member that would be considered large even in an adult, both in length and girth, though in girth mroeso.

Bernice licked her lips at the sight of the throbbing member, hungrily eyeing the bead of clear pre that dotted the purple helmet.

Issei walked towards the kneeling succubus, his member bobbing with each step and her eyes following along, until he was within her reach.

Bernice reacted by shuffling closer to Issei, raising his flesh pole and going straight for his egg-sized testes, licking and kissing them, all while anticipating the marvelous treat she'd be getting from them later.

She followed that up by licking her way up the underside of his length, allowing her tongue to trace the thick vein and to collect the thin trail of pre that had been running down the length, before giving his helmet a teasing flick with the tip of her tongue, before planting a kiss on the crown.

She was surprised when Issei grabbed onto one of her horns with his right hand, prompting her to look up at him only to shiver in a mix of excitment and trepidation at what she saw.

Issei's eyes were lit up with an intense purple, his nostrils flared and his teeth bared into a feral snarl.

She was surprised by the sound of tearing fabric, which was followed up by a red, gauntlete hand gripping her other horn, before guiding her lips to the tip of his member.

She barely had the time to open her mouth before feeling the large member invading her throat with that single thrust, causing her eyes to water and her mascara to run.

She felt herself being pulled back, the thoroughly slick member gliding along her tongue as it happened, before Issei thrust back into her throat with no hesitation.

She moved her hands underneath Issei to fondle his sac even as she looked up and made eye contact with him, causing him to snort heavily, before he started hammering into her throat with no semblance of pity, or mercy.

Bernice never gagged once despite the brutal invasion of her throat, nor did she ever stop fondling Issei's balls, thoroughly enjoying the bestial treatment that he was subjecting her to, promising to herself that she'd get repeats of this as often as possible.

However, as all good things, their tryst eventually had to end.

The continuous stimulation that Bernice was expertly giving him, alongside the fact that he had been without relieving himself from the moment he chose Amsterdam as a destination with the intent of saving his stamina for there, and that this dry period had extended so far, despite his constant exposure to sights that would have made lesser man finish in their own pants, meant that no matter how much natural talent he had, or how much his Tantric Energy was aiding him, he was slated to come eventually.

Gripping Bernice's horns tighter than he had before, Issei gave her one final stroke before he felt his balls empty themselves within her throat, blast after blast of what felt like liquid fire exiting his body with such intensity that he actually shook, all of them being eagerly swallowed down by the woman that had her mouth around his member.

After he finished coming, Issei felt Bernice bobbing a few more times on his member, sucking every last dropplet of his essence from within his urethra, before she lied back onto the ground, let out a loud burp, then fell asleep, a look of deep satisfaction in her face.

 _ **~LEMON END~**_

The brunette blinked a few times as he felt an internal haze fade back into the confines of his subconscious, before a sudden bout of weakness caused him to fall back onto his butt.

Covering his face with the back of his hand, he spoke to himself.

"I can't believe that just happened."

Tears welled up in his eyes at that, his lip trembling with emotion, before he yelled out loud.

"I LOVE MY LIFE!"

"My my, how impressive."

Issei's head whipped over towards the source of the voice, seeing Laveria standing by the classroom door, an amused look on her face as she looked him up and down.

"Quite the harsh treatment you gave Bernice. You may have some trouble getting her to stop following you now, though."

Gulping at that, Issei spoke up nervously.

"Uh... Hello, queen Laveria Ma'am. How are you today?"

The woman smirked at that, before answering.

"Amused at how you're just trying to play off the fact that you throatfucked the _hell_ out of one of my best and brightest. Most men in your position would be gloating, shouting at the four winds about their achievement. After all, it's not just anyone that manages to screw a succubus into unconsciousness, instead of it being the other way around. Bonus points for doing so without losing your virginity, since I'm sure my baby girl would've been displeased had you done so."

Issei blanched at the mention of Lilith, hastily pulling his underpants back up, before stopping in surprise at the sight of his uncovered **Boosted Gear**.

"Oh yeah, I kind of unleashed it..."

Shrugging that off as something to deal with later, Issei re-dressed himself, bowed to the still amused queen, before making his way out of the classroom, never noticing the various different succubi eyeing him hungrily after the burst of Tantric Energy that he released reached the entire castle.

Well, to be fair to Issei, all of them were camouflaged, staying just outside the classroom door and doing their best to listen in on and peek into the actions being performed in there.

Laveria looked over the sleeping Bernice, making no further effort of hiding just how impressed she was now that Issei had left the classroom. She made her way towards the downed instructor, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with the tip of her finger, gathering some of the white cream that Bernice had failed to swallow, before letting said finger into her mouth. Licking said finger clean, she popped it out, before commenting, her eyes gaining a violet, predatory hue.

"Delicious and Nutritious."

 _ **~oOo~**_

Traversing the corridors, Issei ended up in the situation that he wanted to delay the most for now.

Face to face with Lilith.

"Hey, Lilith..."

While the brunette greeted her cheerily, the Succubus princess gave him a blank look. She walked towards him in slow, methodical steps, the echoing of high heels on the castle's flooring causing Issei to cringe with each step, before she stopped right in front of the male.

She took in a nice, deep whiff of him, before her blank face opened into a light smile.

"You're still a virgin... Good."

She leaned into Issei, her lips all but kissing his ear as she spoke.

"I'm not ready to move forward yet, but keep saving yourself for me, Issei, and I promise that your first time will be unforgettable. Lesser men will sing songs of it throughout the ages, and it will be forever recorded in Luxuria's annals. This, I swear."

She punctuated that by giving his neck a good, slow lick, before pulling back, flashing him a bright smile, then walking away, leaving behind a bewildered, and extremely aroused, Issei.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Lunch was being a very awkward affair for Issei so far. Between the outright predatory looks from the maids and servants, the speculative looks from Laveria, and Lilith's surprising amount of cheer, it felt more like he was on display, rather than the veritable banquet spread out on the table.

He watched the maids pointing and whispering whenever they thought he was distracted, and he noticed how some of them would spread their hands apart at a good distance that he was very familiar with, causing him to blush lightly.

"Bernice told me, after waking up, that your theory on Tantric Energy is up to pair."

Issei choked on the piece of steak he had been chewing at the mention of Bernice, barely managing to push it down with water. Ignoring that, Laveria kept speaking.

"However, your control over your Energy is precarious at best. You may be capable of reeling it back in actively, but as soon as you got excited, or when you fall asleep, everyone notices. That will change. You'll be having some dedicated training to ensure that you can keep it under control even while asleep. That way I won't have my sleep interrupted by a spontaneous maid orgy at 3AM."

Issei's nostrils flared at that, causing Laveria to groan as she watched the maids vacate the dining room while panting and giggling as Issei's Tantric Energy flared. Again.

"There they go again."

 _ **~oOo~**_

Standing alone in an open field, Issei distracted himself by thinking back to the feeling of Bernice's breasts in his hands, and mouth...

"RAHHHH!"

The shout was the only warning Issei had before he was struck in the gut by a fist, causing him to to fly more than a few feet, before ragdolling through the ground into a stop.

Shaking off his daze, Issei noticed the fact that the sunlight was being blotted out by an increasingly larger shadow...

"Oh shit!"

The brunette rolled himself out of the way, his eyes widening at the fact that the ground where he previously was all but exploded. His surprise and nervousness faded into the background as he gained his focus, throwing himself back to his feet and shredding the bandages surrounding his boosted gear, his gaze firmly on the dust cloud that had emerged from the earth explosion.

A flicker in his vision was all the warning he had to raise his left arm in front of his right one in a cross defence, absorbing a heavy blow that had him sliding backwards and his feet carving a pair of throughs on the ground until he managed to stop himself.

Keeping his eyes peeled wide and swinging his head around, Issei tried finding his mystery assailant, the green gem on the back of his sacred gear lighting up in response to Issei's focus and determination.

He was completely blindsided by the fist that struck his right cheek, tossing him away.

He managed to right himself middair, only to have to block a punch to the chest as soon as he landed, causing him to fly further backwards.

Before his feet even made contact with the ground, he felt a kick to the back throwing him upwards, before an overhead double-fisted hammer blow threw him back down to earth with a small explosion.

By the time the dust of the explosion settled down, Issei's battered body could bee seen curled up in a small crater in a pose reminiscent of a fetus, his clothes ragged and dirty.

"Poor showing, boy. Very poor showing."

Issei, his face more than just a bit swollen, slowly crawled out of the crater he was in, his body sagging at the loss of power from the **Boosted Gear** , while conversing internally with his partner.

" _Feaking tits, I just got Yamcha'd_."

' _ **...The hell is a Yamcha?**_ '

" _No idea, but it sounds weak, and offensive._ "

' _ **It does, doesn't it?**_ '

While Issei shook the dust off of his clothes, he heard the same voice as before speaking. The tone was harsh, austere and critical.

"Poor awareness, poor reaction time, poor form, an overall bad display. After hearing your feats from her Majesty Queen Laveria herself, I expected you to be... Better. It seems you're just a punk with a fancy toy and ludicrous amounts of luck."

Looking up at the source of the voice, Issei saw a tall woman, 6' at least, short Auburn hair arrayed in a myriad of spikes, steel-grey eyes and 165 pounds of lean muscle in weight, giving her the build of a veritable amazon.

She was clad in a matching pair of breastplate and pauldron, a tunic for ease of movement, under which was a pair of elastic shorts, leather vambraces with glowing purple runes, and a pair of greaves combined with steel-toed boots.

She looked the part of a warrior to the T.

"Fortunately for you, I was chosen to whip you into shape, and do so I will. By the time you leave my... _Tender care_... You'll be less of a disgrace than you currently are. At least enough not to completely embarrass yourself, or lady Lilith. If you have to go through an inordinate amount of pain and suffering in order to achieve that goal... Well, sucks to be you."

Issei was about ready to cry at this, while the woman finished her speech.

"My name is Xinthia, and I will be your instructor both in combat and in the manipulation of Tantric Energy. You are to call me only by 'teacher' or 'sir', are we understood?"

"YES SIR!"

The woman smirked internally at the way the holder of the famed **Boosted Gear** trembled like a a bamboo shoot in the wind under her glare, before barking out.

"NOW GET OUT THERE AND GIVE ME 50 LAPS AROUND THE FIELD, AND IF I CATCH YOU ENHANCING YOURSELF WITH YOUR SACRED GEAR I'LL GIVE YOU A BEATING THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU'LL NEVER IMAGINE! GO!"

Issei had started running as soon as she said '50'.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"GET UP YOU MAGGOT!"

"HOLYFUCKINGSHITONASTICK!"

Issei's string of curses was a consequence of the loud shout that registered right next to his right ear, causing him to fall of his bed, aggravating his already sore body even further. Looking back up, Issei was met with the harsh gaze of Xinthia as she spoke.

"You have five minutes to be outside, in the training field. For each additional second after the 5 minute mark you get another lap of running. Clock started running the moment I said outside."

She then proceeded to leave his room calmly, leaving behind a panicking Issei, doing his best to put on a sweatsuit and shoes while simultaneously brushing his teeth, all with only his right hand availabe.

He _somehow_ managed to make it onto the field on time, getting only a nod of acknowledgement from his instructor before the first orders came.

"Supress your aura."

Issei closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on his powe-

 ***SMACK!***

The downed young man reeled from the punch to the face that had become so familiar to him these past days, rubbing the bruised cheek while looking questioningly to wards his instructor, not even bothering to make his pain known lest he get hit with worse, as Xinthia had made it a habit of doing.

' _If you have time to whine, you have time to improve! Complaining after blows shows me that your pain tolerance still isn't up to par! I'll be taking care of that!_ '

All in all, it was a hellish week as far as Issei was concerned, plagued with a myriad of aches in muscles he didn't even know existed, creaking bones, and ice baths, leaving him so tired that he didn't even have the drive to do more than oggle the maids.

Shaking off those thoughts, Issei focused on his instructor's words.

"Controlling the aura that you release, any sort of aura, is a vital skill. It allows you avoid detection by an enemy, keep your true power level hidden even during combat, regulate how strong of an attack you will be releasing, and to not uselessly tire yourself by expelling extra energy that could be focused on anything else.

Your enemies, however, won't be giving you the time to go into a meditative state and get it back under control, so neither will I. Your objective is to get your aura output under control during a spar with me, so that it will not spike or fluctuate under even extreme duress, pain or punishment of any kind.

The next level will be achieving a subconscious level of control, allowing you to keep your aura in check even while distracted, dozing, sleeping, or in any other state of consciousness."

As soon as she finished saying that, she struck, forcing Issei to lean back to avoid the neck-level chop that would have instantly knocked him unconscious, followed up on by by tossing himself aside to dodge an axe-kick that would have likely broken his collarbone.

"I may have forgotten to tell you that the longer your aura stays out, the more destructive I'll make my attacks."

Issei faltered at that declaration, being rewarded for it by a stomp to the face that tossed him against a tree, causing him to almost lose his consciousness. Groaning, the brunette shook off his daze before charging power into the sacred gear and slamming it against the ground in an attack that he had fashioned just to surprise Xinthia, so that she wouldn't just overwhelm him with her speed as she had been doing.

" **Blast Wave!** "

An explosive shockwave emitted from the point of contact, blasting bits and pieces of rock, dirt and grass away.

Xinthia, who had been en-route to introduce her fist to Issei's gut, felt herself get hit fully by the shockwave, blasting her backwards and causing her to roll along the ground for a bit, before stilling.

Taking the brief window of calm to recover his stamina - and Issei was under no illusion that his attack was going to do any real damage - the brunette focused on trying to pull his aura back into himself to keep the fight from escalating, only to hear a voice right next to his ear.

"Hoh... So you still had a few tricks in you that you didn't use before? That must mean I'm not pushing you far enough..."

Before Issei could react, a fist-shaped indent appeared on his side, before he was blasted away hard enough to release a shockwave, causing him to cough out blood, before slamming into a boulder.

His body battered and bruised, Issei put his hands under his body and attempted to force himself back to his feet, swaying slightly when he did.

His right eye was swollen to the point that he could see nothing other than darkness out of it, while the vision in his left eye swayed drunkely. His knees shook and trembled, yet Issei didn't allow himself to fall down.

' _If I'm going to be so battered every time we fight... Then I'm making sure you take your fair share of damage as well!_ '

In that state of semi-consciousness Issei started feeling the aura of power surrounding him, a purple one stretching a few feet away from him, while the green/red one stayed consistently at a level just above his clothes, surrounding him almost like a second skin.

Grasping the purple one, Issei pulled inwards, causing it to overlap with the red/green one, before the two started compressing even further, to the point that they actually caused his skin to tingle.

He felt... Something. A brief flicker of purple, going straight for him, prompting him to react.

The layer of power around him started growing thicker, until...

"TOO SLOW, MAGGOT!"

" **EXPLOSIA!** "

As Xinthia's punch was about to hit Issei, a purple shockwave exploded outwards from him, slamming straight into the succubus and throwing her quite a few feet away, forcing her onto her knees.

The now-naked Issei could only let out a wheeze reminiscent of a 'Yes!', before passing out.

Xinthia wiped a thin trail of blood from the corner of her mouth, before, without turning around, speaking up.

"My queen."

Laveria released her basic camouflage spell, chuckling slightly before speaking up.

"How would you say Issei's training is going?"

"...Better than I expected, I admit. When he started he was absolute trash. Even with the maximum boosts from his **Boosted Gear** he could barely keep up with me at an easy pace. Now, I have to use a considerable amount of my strength in order to make it seem as if the power disparity between us hasn't changed at all.

He grows stronger at an absolutely ridiculous rate, and the fact that he's managed to go through every day of work out I've given him so far is nothing short of amazing. I was forcing him into continuously keeping the same level of intensity in order to know the limits of his body, but it seems that whenever he does reach that point he powers through things using sheer willpower.

A night of sleep, and he's ready for more punishment. What's more, any mention of 'Lilith', 'Breasts' or 'Harem' seems to fortify him. While he may be weak today, if he keeps going at this rate, he'll grow up to be a complete monster."

"...I see. Do you believe he could use... _That_?"

Xinthia was struck dumb by Laveria's question, her mouth flapping uselessly at that, before she spoke up.

"Milady, do you not think you're giving him too much credit? As much potential for the future he may present, I do not see him being capable of using _that_."

"Then make sure that he is, Xinthia. I hear murmurs of bad things to come, and if I could have the Red Dragon Emperor in a combat-ready state on the side of Luxuria, I would feel much more secure about future. Make him stronger."

"Yes, my lady. I shall prepare him for _It_."

Laveria nodded at Xinthia, before moving towards Issei and crouching beside him, her hand caressing his hair. Sighing, the queen of Luxuria stood up, walking back to her research projects in the royal library, asking herself if this was truly the way forward.

And through all of this, Issei lay there, unconscious.

 _ **~Chapter, End!~**_

 **The end for now, folks! Keep your eyes peeled for the next update, since that's when things are really starting to go down. As always, feel free to leave feedback, and if you have any questions, you're free to leave them in the form of either a review, or a PM.**

 **Francogamerxz, out!**


	7. A royal visit, a royal pain

**Hey hey, back again!**

 **I know it's taken me a long time to update, but that's because the chapter that I had almost in it's finished state already got corrupted, and I lost all of it. You can't imagine just how annoyed I really am, since that chapter was coming out freaking amazing.**

 **Anyways, Review Response corner.**

 **Jarjaxle says: "Well...So Ise's 1st time is going to be with Lilith huh...tough Certain other Sexual activities other than Sex are Permitted huh.**

 **I'm hoping Ise harem is going to be confirmed Canon...Aka Kuroka, Xenovia, Akeno, Rias, Asia, Irina, Roseweisse, Ravel, Koneko...and the possible ones Aka Le Fey and Tsubasa and that Vampire Girl...along with Lilith and possible others..hey this is DxD after all...and Harem story"**

 **A: The future is an uncertain thing, my friend, but rest assured that at least a few, if not most, girls in the canon harem are going to be part of Issei's harem here in the story. This is how Dxd works.**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "it was a nice lime good job i wonder what the voice was his instinct or like ero energy he did well though possible claimed teacher waifu**

 **it is a good thing she was fine with him doing stuff as long as she gets his first good harem waifu**

 **intro of a amazon waifu nice will she give the same reward as teacher waifu**

 **haha im glad he is getting better and stronger along with creativity for his power and a lot of will**

 **wonder what they mean"**

 **A: Not every woman he ends up having a roll in the hay with will be a waifu, some of them will be just people that occasionally go to one-another to scratch an itch. Plus, who said anything about Xinthia being a waifu? Not every woman Issei meets is going to join his harem, otherwise the world of DxD would be baying for his blood. Their meaning will be cleared later on.**

 **37 says: "So when will any dxd girls show up?"**

 **A: Not very soon yet, my friend. The Luxuria arc will have to reach a resolution before Issei's 1st year in Kuoh. A few more chapters I'd say.**

 **Nox says: "I think Issei will solve his arm problem by giving his arm to Draig, and like in cannon remove the draconic energy. Am i right?"**

 **A: Nope, wrong. Can't say more than this not to spoil stuff though!**

 **GunScythe says: "I like this a lot so far. There is just one thing I want clarification on. Did you purposefully change liliths origins in this? In dxd she is the mother of devil's and plays an important indirect role later on in the LN."**

 **A: I'm aware of Lilith's role in the LN, and I adapted her accordingly to create cohesion with this fanfic.**

 **PraetorXyn says: "This is getting better and better, great chapter all around.**

 **I like the accelerated physicalcombat training. It's a damn travesty that Issei is as weak as he is in canon. It basically turned into DBZ in that he gets a new transformation every time he fights an otherwise insurmountable foe. At least up until the last translated volume, 21, maybe.**

 **The lemon was good as well, though I hope Lilith doesn't cockblock too long. A thought I had was that it may be good going forward to put time so far, or time intervals in future chapters, as while it seems like he's been there a few weeks it's probably only been there 1 or so. That might make people more comfortable with waiting, as we are used to "5 minutes" in anime time being like 10 hours or something.**

 **I'm awfully curious what Laveria wants Issei to use, I'm guessing either a weapon, relic, or power the succubi have that none of them can use, presumably because only a man can use it (maybe a prophecy involved or something).**

 **Anyway I'm thoroughly enjoying this arc, and that is certainly not always the case with "original" arcs. Keep up the good work."**

 **A: Won't say much about the earlier parts of your review, since I most of it are exclamations and suggestions, but I can talk about what Laveria wants to use. I'll tell you this, it's nothing involving a prophecy.**

 **Emrys Akayuki says: "So issei's parents think he's dead right? Because he went to Amsterdam and now he's been missing for a few weeks...?**

 **Well whatever. This is fun, I want to read more and it'll be fun to see how this all crashes into canon."**

 **A: Actually, he's not declared as missing yet. Issei's parents paid for a good, long vacation plan, that ends only a week or two before his first year highschool classes start, and after that awkward situation of Issei catching them in the act, they decided to give him some space to appreciate it. As far as they know, their son in seeing the sights in Amsterdam, smelling the tulips, smoking a few joints, and getting a lapdance or two, daily.**

 **And that's it with this Review response corner, where we answer reviews that could be formulated/interpreted as questions.**

 **~1 month Later~**

"Pretty good work today, maggot."

From his spot on the dirt, Issei could only flash Xinthia a thumbs up, while the Succubus smirked, her arms crossed over her chest.

While he took the time to regain his breath, Xinthia spoke up.

"You really surprised me with that sparkly stuff. Much beyond the progress I expected from you."

A sense of trepidation pervaded Issei before he answered, his voice lightly muffled by the dirt his face was on top of.

"If you keep complimenting me like that, I'm going to think you're planning to murder me in my sleep."

Rolling her eyes, Xinthia responded.

"I'm just very, very surprised with how far you've come. Most humans would be unable to stand a single day of my training, and even if they did, they would not keep caoming back for more, nor would they progress as fast as you have. I'm ultimate class, and in a single month you forced me to reveal my first pair of wings in order to not lose ground to you."

Issei blinked owlishly at that, before asking.

"Wings? Huh?"

Xinthia rolled her eyes at him again, before speaking.

"Didn't you purportedly pass Bernice's tests?"

"To be fair, I was learning more about Tantric Energy than anything else. There wasn't much focus on the supernatural world in general."

Sighing, she decided to clarify.

"As you may know, supernatural creatures have four primary levels of power they can belond to. Low class, Mid class, High class and Ultimate class, with an auxiliary, unnamed tier which encompasses everything above Ultimate class, up until the number one in the top 10 strongest beings, with the exception of the two _actual_ strongest beings in existance, Ophis, the Dragon of Infinity, and the Great Red, the True Dragon God Emperor, that would break absolutely any power scale ever."

Issei, having moved into a sitting position as Xinthia spoke, nodded at her to signal his understanding, prompting her to continue.

"You know that in nature, the strongest beings tend to predate on the weaker ones, while the weaker ones try to survive at any cost, be it through developing some defensive measures, to outright fleeing. But none of those things matter if you can't identify who is strong, and who is weak, which is why most species develop some noticeable aspects that clue you in on their power.

For many beings, this factor is their number of wings. Beings like Succubi, Angels, Devils and Fallen Angels reflect their power through the amount of wings they have available. One pair means Low class, two pairs is Middle class, three pairs means High class, four pairs is Ultimate Class, and anything beyond it is that supplemental, unnamed class.

Generally speaking, whenever time one such being taps into their full power, their wings tend to make themselves shown, with very few exceptions."

"That means that when facing someone like this, I could use the number of wings released to gauge how powerful they are, and how much power they're allowing themselves to use?"

"Well... It's not quite simple. For example, an Ultimate class like me can easily demolish Low class fighters, and match most people on the lower end of the Middle class, without even releasing my wings. I only release my wings when dealing with people starting on the higher side of the Middle class."

Issei nodded at that explanation, before freezing as a memory came to the back of his head.

' _Wait a second..._ '

"...Does the amount of power you limit yourself to influence the amount of **Intent** you can exert?"

"Yes, it does. If you make a lesser amount of your own power available, you can project less **Intent**."

' _Holy shit... Laveria beat Sthenogardsomr in sheer intent when she first met me, without releasing a single pair of wings!_ '

"Just for curiosity's sake... How many wings does Queen Laveria have?"

"Five pairs."

' _A monster beyond Ultimate class... Holy shit I challenged her to a fight the first time we met! If she was actually a bad person trying to kill Lilith, I'd be a goner!_ '

An amused tone in her voice, Xinthia spoke.

"While the face you make as you notice how truly close you were to your demise is amusing, I unfortunately have to tell you that today's training session is being cut short."

"YES!... I mean, uh, what a pity! Yeah, that's what I meant!... Why, though?"

Rolling her eyes, Xinthia responded.

"Queen Laveria has requested you to be present in the entrance hall early, and capable of walking without your legs trembling. You have time to go get ready, and shake off any after effects of this new ability of yours, since the strain and backlash must be murder on your body."

Nodding at Xinthia, Issei gingerly pushed himself back to his feet, his legs under him trembling as he made his way back into the castle.

Watching her current student from behind, Xinthia couldn't stop the thought that popped into her mind.

' _Maybe he really can use_ _ **That**_ _._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Oh, wow."

Laveria and Lilith turned towards Issei, their previously neutral faces changing, with Laveria's opening into a small smirk, while Lilith's blossomed into a full smile. Scratching the back of his head, Issei spoke up.

"The two of you look really... Queen-y, and princess-y."

He was referring to the fact that the two women were dressed in full Royal regalia, big, long dresses that skirted the ankles, tasteful jewelry, and even freaking crowns!

...Well, Laveria was wearing a solid-gold, jewel-encrusted Diadem which was probably worth more than Issei's organs in the black market would, while Lilith wore a tiara which, while a bit smaller and less elaborate, still conveyed the same overall message of 'royalty'.

Lilith pouted, while Laveria chuckled huskily at Issei's words, causing tingles to run down his spine, before speaking up herself.

"You don't clean up too bad either, Issei."

She was referring to the fact that Issei was wearing a white long-sleeved button down shirt with a black jacket over it, black slacks and black, leather dress shoes.

Lilith nodded in agreement, giving Issei a predatory look that had him lightly sweating, before Laveria spoke up.

"As fun as it would be to keep watching you squirm under my baby girl's look, I have to give you a... Disclaimer, let us say. The people visiting us are the type of people who act smooth, friendly, respectful and cordial... Towards women. When in the presence of men, they behave differently. They will use every opportunity to put you down, to offend you and to detract from your value, directly or indirectly.

To them, men are competition in the endeavor to charm women, which is why they act like this. I'm telling you this so you're aware that most things they'll say or do, as far as you are involved, will have alternative motives, or interpretations, behind them. "

"...So you want me not to play into their game?"

Snorting, Laveria slashed at the air with her hand as if cutting through a ridiculous notion, before speaking up.

"Quite the opposite, Issei. When they do challenge you, and it is a certainty they will, I want you to play along, and I want you to win by all means necessary. You have fire in you, Issei. I've seen it since our first meeting. I want you to stop saving that fire exclusively for life and death situations, and to apply it more to your general demeanor. You need to show people that you're not one to be taken lightly with every action you take. Show them why it's an unwritten rule in the supernatural world that dragons are to be avoided as enemies whenever possible, and why even the stronger beings avoid angering them."

Issei felt this declaration strike a chord with something buried within him, unconsciously squaring his shoulders into a more powerful stance, a metaphorical flame emerging deep within his eyes, just waiting for the moment to burst into a blazing conflagration.

Seeing this, Laveria's smirk widened into a grin, a tingle passing through her body, before she kept speaking.

"The people that will be visiting us today will be-"

She was interrupted by a the sound of trumpets, followed upon by the loud and clear tone of voice of her Herald, Hyla.

"Make way for King Phillips Laucia, the King and Liege Lord of Bauxis, the Incubus Nation, and the royal heir to the Throne of Bauxis, Prince Travis Laucia."

Laveria twirled her fingers, causing the bandages over Issei's **Boosted Gear** to change into a cast, before a sling appeared around it, making it seems as if his arm was broken, before both her and Lilith turned towards the still closed doors of the entrance hall, their postures and faces changing noticeably, prompting Issei to follow their lead, standing next to Lilith.

The double doors swung inwards, admitting a procession of women dressed in a parody of a maid outfit made in strips of cloth and leather, just barely covering their privates. Said women stopped a few paces away from where Laveria, Lilith and Issei stood, bowed towards them, before splitting into two groups and moving to the sides, creating a corridor in the middle.

Down this corridor walked two figures.

One of them was a man that seemed to be in his mid-40's. His hair was short but full, combed fully backwards, and it was mostly black, with wisps of grey on his temples giving him a distinguished look. His eyes were steel grey in color, he had a slightly crooked nose, in a ruggedly handsome way, and his mouth was drawn in an easy smile.

He was dressed in a dark grey suit that did little to hide the fact that the man was muscular, with broad shoulders and chest. He wasn't up to bodybuilder level, but he was well beyond the average man of even half his age. His face had a few laugh lines, with a few 'almost-creases' surrouding his eyes, and his jaw, lightly covered by a cropped and well groomed beard, was noticeable defined, square and rugged.

Overall, he gave the look of someone very rich and successful, yet not afraid to do some heavy lifting.

Walking next to him was someone that greatly contrasted him. With neck-length hair freely hanging from his head, a straight nose on the smallish side, a softer, rounder jaw, and a build that was slim and slight, dressed on a fitting black suit, Travis looked like a total pretty boy.

"Ah, lovely Laveria! Every time I see you, you're a bit more beautiful!"

Pasting a plastic smile on her face, Laveria answered.

"Phillip, a flirt as always."

"If speaking my mind makes me a flirt then I am proud to be one!"

He moved towards Laveria, taking her offered hand and placing a light kiss on her knuckles.

Straightening back up, the man turned towards Lilith before speaking.

"Princess Lilith, a most beautiful flower in blooming. You take after your mother, in that aspect."

Lilith's smile was even faker, looking more like a grimace than anything else as she curtseyed towards Phillip in thanks. Seemingly ignorant of this, Phillip kept speaking.

"I believe you know my son, Travis?"

Gritting her teeth, Lilith forced her response in a tone as friendly as she could manage.

"We have been acquainted, yes."

Taking his cue, Travis moved forward, his face all smiles as he took Lilith's hand into his own, replicating his father's earlier act towards Laveria. Lilith barely managed to keep from pulling her hand away from his harshly, as it would have been impolite.

Before anything else could be said, Laveria spoke up.

"While the four of us have been already acquainted, I'd like to introduce you to someone else that is very important to us."

Laveria turned towards Issei, causing all eyes in the room to shift to him, before finishing.

"This is Issei, Lilith's fiancé and my son-in-law."

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei almost choked both at Laveria's words and at the fact that the attention of everybody in the room shifted towards him, with Phillip and Travis' eyes tightening around the corners.

Completely suppressing his nervousness, Issei smiled towards both King and Prince, his voice more powerful than one would expect from someone his age.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Kig Phillip, Prince Travis."

Phillip spoke up.

"This is quite a surprise. One would think that an announcement would be made regarding the engagement of the heiress of the Luxurian throne."

Travis interjected at that, his light and joking tone barely masking his smugness as he spoke.

"Issei, our little secret, huh?"

Laveria's smile strained a bit further, while Lilith outright frowned, understanding the implied slight.

' _They're hiding you, probably because they're ashamed._ '

However, before either woman could respond, Issei surprised them by chuckling sheepishly, his eyes closing sheepishly, while his arm wrapped around Lilith's shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

"That was my choice, you see. My lovely fiancé and my delightful mother-in-law wished to make our engagement known, but I wished to keep it more private. I'm not a very public person. We reached a compromise halfway, which was that only the closest and most valued friends of the Lilim family would be told."

' _In other words, you two aren't worth much, so you weren't part of the announcement list_.'

Laveria managed to cover her smirk with the back of her hand, while Lilith seemed to be twitching hard in an attempt to supress a grin. On the other hand, the strain on Phillip and Travis' faces intensified.

Wanting to move past this exchange, Phillips spoke up.

"I believed we had business to take care of, Laveria?"

Ignoring the slight irritation in Phillips tone, Laveria spoke with a far more legitimate smile.

"Of course. I am sure, however, that the young ones would be bored, staying and watching as we revise the terms of our various deals and contracts. Lilith, why not take them out for some air?"

"Of course, mother."

Curtsying towards her mother, Lilith followed up by pulling Issei's arm tighter around her and turning around, causing Issei turn with her and deliberately turning their backs on Travis, before walking away, with a silently seething Travis following after them.

After the doors closed, Laveria turned a genuinely amused smirk towards the visibly annoyed ruler of Bauxia, before speaking.

"Youth, am I right?"

 _ **~oOo~**_

After a mostly silent walk trailed by a myriad of maids from broth sides, the three youths eventually settled on a gazebo overlooking a sprawling garden of flowers, the three seated at a small table, with Issei and Lilith sitting side by side, forcing Travis to sit across them.

Many maids were arrayed around them, waiting for any request or instructions, with two of Travis' own maids standing just behind his seat, her heads bowed low in deference to him.

Intent on getting the upper hand of the conversation this time, Travis spoke up first.

"Issei, was it? Marrying the lovely heiress of the Luxurian throne sounds very important, I'm sure your family was very surprised when you told them the news. I know I would be Incredulous were I in their place."

Issei's smile strained at those words, since they served as both a reminder of the family that he probably won't get to return to, and due to the underlying meaning behind them.

' _You're so unimportant that you getting together with her sounds impossible to anyone, even your family._ '

"Oh no they would not be very surprised, I think. They did always insist on telling me about how exceptional I was. Unfortunately, they have been recently lost to me. The only reason I managed to overcome the pain so soon was due to my dear Lilith's support."

He punctuated that by pulling Lilith closer to him, planting a soft kiss on the succubus' lips that left her blushing intensely from the sheer level of emotion in it.

Travis scowled at that. By declaring the loss of his family, Issei had shut down any more inquiries about them, such as their wealth and background, things that if asked by Travis, would make him seem unkind, and uncouth.

Seeing the way the two were so close only annoyed him further, prompting him to try to find a play to unbalance Issei. He had to smirk inwardly as he caught sight of Issei's 'injured' left arm.

"I find it quite odd that you have your arm in a sling. With the Succubus race being some of the world's premier healers, one would think that such degree of injury would not be seen here."

In other words, ' _No-one cared enough to spend the magic needed to heal your arm, shows you how much they really care_ '.

Smirking at that one, Issei responded completely honestly.

"I actually acquired this injury trying an Ultimate-class attack for the first time. The attack itself was successful, but the recoil ended up injuring my arm. Lilith offered to heal my arm herself, but I decided not to, and to let it heal naturally. It is a reminder to myself, that I should be using my power responsibly. Were you in my position things would be different, I'd hazard, as I've not heard much about Incubi being very healing-oriented, but I'm sure that you'll never have to worry about something like this."

' _Because you'll never be as strong as me_ ' was left implied, causing Travis to seethe inwardly, barely able to keep the sneer off of his face.

Snapping his fingers, he called out.

"I'm feeling a bit peckish."

The two maids that were behind him stepped up beside him, and Travis gave Issei a smug look before taking hold of the left one's chin, pulling her in for a deep and sensuous kiss. By the time he was done, the maid was left panting hotly and could barely stand on her feet.

Allowing his gaze to meet Issei's, Travis repeated the feat with the second maid.

After the two maids were thoroughly disheveled, he smacked his lips together, before meeting Issei's gaze challengingly.

His eyes narrowing slightly, Issei spoke up.

"You seem to be a little peckish as well, Lilith dear."

Having said that, Issei shifted her onto his lap using his right arm, wrapping it around her waist and pulling her tightly against himself, before moving his hand to the back of her head and pulling her into a kiss that started light and soft, before it gradually heated up, leaving her squirming in his lap.

" _When they do challenge you, and it is a certainty they will, I want you to play along, and I want you to win by all means necessary..._ "

With Laveria's words in mind, Issei decided to stop holding back and to show Travis just how outmatched he truly was. The air-tight control he had acquired over his aura?

He let it go.

A wave of sheer _**Lust**_ emanated from Issei, causing all women within a 50 foot radius to go from business as normal to, to breathing heavily, their eyes glazed and legs wobbly. They all turned towards the source of this lust, puddles forming under them as they licked their lips. More than a few of them actually fell in place, writhing in the throes of an explosive orgasm.

After 15 seconds of this, Issei finally reined his Tantric Energy back in, allowing the instant orgasm effect to fade, yet leaving a secondary effect which was every single woman eyeing him speculatively, their eyes burning in lust.

Scowling in disgust and anger at his moral defeat, Travis stood up from his seat, turning around abruptly and heading back towards the castle, while Issei could only smirk smugly at his retreating back.

"I...I didn't..."

Issei looked down at the succubus on his lap, ignoring the puddle on his lap as he focused on her flushed face as she spoke.

"I didn't know... You spoke... Royal-ese."

Ignoring the way she panted between words, Issei spoke up.

"Me and my friends jab at eachother all the time, we're usually just a bit more blatant about it. It's part of being a teenage boy with teenage boy friends, shit-talking eachother. I just tried interpreting what he really meant with the words he said, and I had to translate the insults that I wanted to throw back into that flowery speak."

"...This is so unfair. I literally spent hours in classrooms learning how to do this sort of thing."

"Perks of studying in a public school, being a pervert that does not care at all about the opinions of other people, and having like-minded friends that don't really hold back on the insults and profanity."

"I still say it's unfair, though I enjoyed the fact that you forced him to go away to hide his temper tantrum."

Issei just shrugged, before pulling Lilith even closer to himself. The two enjoyed a comfortable silence, before Lilith spoke up in a hesitant tone.

"Issei, that thing about your parents-"

"Don't worry about it, Lilith. I was being honest when I said that what happened felt like they were lost to me, but I was also being honest when I said your presence helped me get over it. Plus, some things, once lost, can be found again."

Nodding at that, Lilith burrowed her head into the crook of Issei's neck, and the two enjoyed spending the rest of the afternoon together.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Issei, love... Say 'ah'!"

Between Phillip's strained smile, Laveria's inordinately pleased smirk, Lilith's amorous disposition and Travis' death glower, Issei could cathegorically affirm that this was the single most tense dinner he ever experienced in his entire life.

He knew that Lilith's disposition was a result of the pleasant and intimate afternoon the two spent together, without Issei's time and energy having been completely sapped by Xinthia's training, and that Travis' death glower was a combination at frustration at the fact that Issei had beaten him at his own word game, and envy at the fact that Lilith, and every single female other than Laveria, including his own maids, were constantly giving Issei either 'Innocent Doe-eyed looks', or 'Bedroom looks', even as he was fed by his fiancé.

He did not know the source of Phillips' apparent irritation though. It could have been him as well, but Phillip seemed to be giving Travis glares whenever he thought no-one was looking.

Thoroughly enjoying the mounting chaos, Laveria spoke up.

"So, children... How was your afternoon?"

Lilith, noticing what her mother was doing, purposefully exaggerated her actions, speaking in the most 'swooning, love-struck' tone of voice ever heard in history without sounding blatantly overacted.

"Oh mother, it was absolutely incredible! Issei was the perfect gentleman! He paid attention to me, tended to my needs, held me close, and even allowed me to feed a bit when I felt somewhat peckish! He has to be the absolute best man a woman could wish for!"

Travis was all but shaking in fury by this point, while Phillip had subconsciously started squeezing his fork, causing it to start warping.

Managing to keep his irritation out of his tone, Travis responded somewhat affably to Lilith.

"Surely you understand that opinions are a subjective matter, do you not, princess Lilith?"

Laveria spoke up at this point, her mild tone barely masking an extremely sharp edge.

"You would not presume to call my daughter's honesty, and my son-in-law's value into question, at my own dinner table, in my castle, in my Nation, that I had the courtesy to invite you into, would you, _Prince Laucia_?"

Travis started sweating intensely at that, even as his father's gaze threatened to burn holes through his forehead.

"Not at all, Queen Lav-" seeing the woman's raised eyebrow, Travis rapidly corrected himself "Queen Lilim. I did not intend to question or malign, it was simply a comment made in jest, and in defence of mine and my own father's masculinities."

"You did not intend to, and yet you did nonetheless. Your jest was made in very bad faith, and your own actions cast aspersions on your self-proclaimed masculinity. I should eject you from my land for the presumption of questioning the integrity and honesty of the royal line-"

Phillip's eyes widened in shock to an extreme degree, while Travis' complexion turned pale, before Laveria continued.

"-However, it would be impolite and in bad faith of me to force you to trek after nightfall. Who knows what dangers lurk in the dark, that could victimize you and your procession. That being said, I do believe that my appetite has been spoiled by this conversation. I will be retiring to my chambers. My maids shall be escorting you to your own as well, and you shall leave my land by sunrise."

Issei was the only one capable of hiding the shock that he felt at Laveria's actions, while Lilith, Phillip and Travis did a remarkably poor job at it, as did the various maids arrayed around the room.

Getting up from his seat, Issei helped Lilith up from her own seat before wrapping his arm around her waist, directing her nearly catatonic form out of the dining room, and into the yard that they had their afternoon Date at, the one with the Gazebo.

 _ **~oOo~**_

The two walked around the gardens in silence, before Lilith spoke up.

"That was... Unexpected."

Raising an eyebrow at her, Issei responded.

"Well... Not really."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean that your mother was sick and tired of that old guy and his bastard of a son. The old man was schmoozing her, trying to simultaneously flirt and suck up to her. The younger one was just an asshole, a quarter of his father's charm, and none of the class. He was supposedly raised as a heir, but he called you a liar and questioned my masculinity in front of your mother, _the Queen_.

I think Laveria just used that as a pretext to kick them out."

Rolling her eyes, Lilith answered.

"I know, Issei, I was there. I noticed how my mom was getting annoyed, and I understood Travis' screw up. What I didn't understand was my mother's reaction. A month ago or so, she would have probably played that off as a somewhat tasteless joke and move on, but today she literally gave them a notice to pack up their things and leave. I think it might be your influence."

Shrugging at that, Issei was about to respond, when an unwelcome voice spoke up from behind the two of them.

"Princess Lilith."

Lilith rolled her eyes at it while Issei groaned, before the two started moving faster.

"Princess Lilith!"

The two heard Travis' footsteps speed up slightly, but they kept ignoring him, even as he got closer to them.

"PRINCESS LILITH!"

With that shout, Travis grabbed Lilith's wrist and yanked her back, causing her hand and Issei's to disconnect.

His eyes full of anger at being ignored, he gripped her wrist tightly and was about to raise his other hand, only to feel a near crushing grip stop it mid-motion.

Turning towards the source of the hand, he was ready to spew some vitriol, only to freeze at the absolutely _**deadly**_ look in Issei's eyes.

"Prince Travis _._ "

Travis' eyes widened at Issei's deceptively soft tone, while Lilith cringed hard at it, never hearing Issei sound so... mild, and dispassionate, before. It was... Unnatural.

"W-what do you-"

"I hope you were not about to raise your hand to strike at my fiancé _._ "

Supressing his own cringe, Travis gulped, building up some bravado, before speaking up in a sneering tone.

"T-this has nothing to do with a commoner mutt such as yourself! Even if I were to raise my hand to her, it would be a matter between royals!"

"Ah, I see. A commoner mutt, is what you called me _._ "

Issei squeezed Travis' wrist harder, a malicious glint in his eyes, before he spoke in an even softer tone.

" _Were you never told about how dangerous mutts truly are?_ "

A green aura started building up around Issei, the pressure bearing upon Travis and keeping him frozen in place, while the holder of the **Boosted Gear** kept speaking.

"Us mutts, we could do terrible things, you see. Things such as _**RIPPING SOME WANNABE-LOTHARIO WANKSTAIN'S ARMS OFF AND BEATING HIM TO DEATH WITH THEM**_."

By the end of the sentence Issei's tone was almost demonic in nature, his voice so deep that it reverberated in the bones of all those present.

" _ **If you'd like to avoid such a fate, you should not try to hurt this specific mutt's princess.**_ "

Travis released his grip on Lilith's wrist almost automatically, causing Issei to nod before speaking, his tone mild again.

"Very good. And just as a reminder of this..."

He punctuated by curling all but the middle finger of his right hand into a fist, pushing a good amount of his power towards said finger. A spark of electricity arched along the finger, before it found itself pressed into Travis' chest, gradually burning through his shirt and marking his flesh, forever.

Pulling his hand back, Issei headbutted the jackass, appreciating the meaty crunch that he felt on his forehead, before walking away with a shocked silent Lilith, leaving Travis sprawled out on on the floor, sitting on a puddle of piss and blood.

After a while of silence, Lilith spoke up.

"Issei... You have no idea how much I want you to fuck me right now."

That declaration from the succubus had Issei stumbling in surprise, before he looked at her and spoke up.

"Really? I thought you'd be scared of me, or something. Talk about how I'm ' _terrifying_ ' , or about how you ' _don't even know me anymore_ '."

Giving the male a deadpan look, Lilith responded.

"I just watched my goofy, lighthearted boyfriend threaten to rip the arms off of an asshole and beat him to death with them for even raising his hand at me. Do you have any idea how hot that was? And that voice of yours... _Gosh~_ "

Lilith shuddered in pleasure while Issei eyed her weirdly, before speaking up.

"That sounds crazy. I think you're at least somewhat crazy."

The succubus rolled her eyes at her man.

"That's because you're trying to apply human logic to the supernatural world. A supernatural girl may fall in love with a man for his softspoken, kind personality, but the instant he starts thumping his chest and waving around his stick at some asshole, her kitty starts drooling and all notions of innocent, puppy love are pushed aside for burning hot passion.

Power and dominance are very important in the supernatural world. Now would you please stop trying to talk to me, take me to your room instead, and fuck the _hell_ out of me?"

Not wanting to force his girlfriend/fiancé to speak twice, Issei hoisted her up over his shoulder, causing her to let out a squeal of delight, before making his way to his room.

 _ **~LIME WARNING~**_

" _Oh god, that feels so good~_ "

Issei, his shirt's buttons ripped off in his haste to shed it, smirked into Lilith's neck even as he planted a myriad of soft kisses on it while his hand explored her body, gliding along her waist, trailing across her stomach, and overall just feeling her all over in the most sensuous manner possible, causing her to writhe and moan.

Biting on her collarbone, Issei allowed his hand to wander lower, slip under her dress and to start feeling her leg up, starting with a relaxing kneading of her calves, before sliding up to her thigh, his massaging turning into a set of feather-light, teasing touches.

Lilith bit down on her lip, her head thrashing wildly and her hands gripping the sheets tightly at the sensations.

Issei's mouth went lower, nipping at her breast, even as his hand placed itself on top of Lilith's panties, right above her clitoris. He started simultaneously licking and sucking at her right nipple, and rubbing at her button, trapping it between two of his fingers and rubbing upwards and downards.

Issei noticed Lilith's already drenched panties become even slicker between his fingers, as he did the fact that her low, breathy moans turned into rapid, somewhat shrill squeaks, causing him to speed up his fingers, and allow his mouth to change breasts.

Lilith's squeaks seemed to be increasing in volume and building to a crescendo, and when he felt that she was on the edge of pleasure, Issei allowed two of his fingers to dig lightly into the hole.

He noticed Lilith's entire body shaking as if she were having a seizure, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her throat released a guttural, stretched-out moan.

 _ **~LIME END~**_

As Issei prepared to release Issei Jr. from his fabric prison, he felt the bed under him shake as if an earthquake were in progress, followed by a massively loud roar.

Issei's eyes turned serious and he rolled out of bed to his feet, while Lilith shot up from the bed, speaking between gasps.

"That... Sounded like... The sacred beast!"

Looking towards her boyfriend, Lilith spoke up.

"Issei, we need to go!"

Nodding at that, Issei tore the rest of his shirt off, revealing a build reflecting a full month of tortuous training that most human special forces agents would balk at in the tone and definition of Issei's body. His muscles weren't as massive as a bodybuilders, reflecting more a swimmer in shape, but each and every single muscle was rock-hard in definition.

Ignoring this for now, Lilith ripped at her dress' skirt in order to allow her freedom of movement, before the two jumped out of Issei's window, towards the source of the noise.

Issei ran while Lilith flew there, and eventually the two saw an odd scene.

A massive, purple-furred wolf stood snarling at a pair of cloaked figures, a few gashes on it's hide, while the ground around them was torn and cratered.

The wolf, however, seemed uninclined to go after the two cloaked individuals regardless of how menacingly it growled at them, staying behind a line that had been dug in the eart and not moving beyond it.

Lilith spoke up before Issei could tell her to make use of the stealth they had for an attack, costing them the element of surprise.

"Halt! Cease from your futile endeavors against the Luxurian nation right this moment, and I promise you two your deaths will be swift and painless!"

The shorter one of the cloaked figures turned slightly towards the two of them, revealing only a bright of burning red eyes in the shadows of her cloak, before turning back towards the taller one.

Recieving it's nod, the shorter figure turned into an indistinguishable blur for Lilith, reappearing in front of her with a red blade swinging for her stomach. The Succubus princess wasn't fast enough to react, watching as her death by disembowelment slowly approached...

 ***CLANG!***

Only for a red gauntlet with a green jewel on the back to intercept the blade, sparks of friction emerging as the two parties pushed forward.

Making use of the fact that the figure was immobilized, Lilith lengthened her claws before delivering a rising vertical slash at the figure, barely missing it as it jumped back, but absolutely shredding their cloaked hood, revealing a young woman, somewhere between 15~17 years old, 5'3" in height max, her skin a very pale, snow-like tone, while her hair and eyes burned blood red.

Her face sported a deranged slasher grin as she twirled her dagger-like short sword around her fingers dexterously.

Raising her free hand towards Issei and Lilith, she beckoned the two of them to attack her.

Lilith was about to move forward, only for Issei to grab her shoulder, stopping her, before whispering in her ear.

"Lilith, this shorter one is out of your league, let me take care of her and engage the taller one, they're weaker."

Blinking owlishly, Lilith scowled before whispering back harshly at Issei.

"Are you saying that I'm weak, and incapable of defending myself? Do you think I'm a damsel?"

"I'm saying that you're from a race that's not very battle oriented, with no amount of formal combat training, nor battle instincts honed by dangerous situation after dangerous situation. Engaging red over there would be suicide for you. Hell, I'm not sure I can beat her, even with Xinthia's extensive training, that's what my instinct is telling me. Remember that we're on home turf, we're not fighting to defeat, just to delay until help comes."

Huffing, Lilith scowled lightly before speaking up.

"Fine. Cover me, then."

She followed that instruction up by flaring her wings and flying full-tilt towards the redhead. Said redhead cocked her blade back, ready to shred Lilith into pieces, only for a tank of flesh to slam into her side, forcing her out of the way and the two to roll on the ground.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Noticing the girl cocking her blade back to stab into his heart, Issei threw himself away from her and rolled onto his feet, watching warily as she did the same with near zero effort.

The two started circling eachoter, eyes searching for a weakness in the other's defense, before the girl spoke up.

"Anyone tell you how heavy you really are? It's like you're made of deceptively small rocks stacked onto eachother."

Raising an eyebrow, Issei responded.

"Anyone tell you how freakishly fast you are? Your legs seem too lithe for the type of explosive acceleration you showed."

"First meeting with a blade-toting girl and you're already checking out her legs? Naughty, naughty."

"I'm called that every once in a while."

The two dashed towards eachother simultaneously, blade and gauntlet streaking towards the other's face, both dodged by a hair's breadth. The girl switched the blade in her hand into a reverse grip, going for a stab at Issei's back, only for him to squeeze her wrist with his gauntlet and try to slam her elbow into his shoulder.

She allowed her elbow to bend, bringing her chest-to-chest with Issei, her other arm coming around seemingly to wrap him up in a hug, before she let go of the blade with her primary hand and allowed it to fall into her secondary one.

However, before she could stab at Issei, the male hopped, tucking his knees into his chest in the tiny space between their bodies, before delivering a dropkick straight to her chest, projecting the redhead backwards, while he fell on his back on the ground, a light graze on his lower back oozing a tiny amount of blood.

Issei pushed himself up from the ground, landing back on his feet only to see the girl spitting out some blood, before looking at him with an increased grin, her white teeth stained with a trail of red.

Then, she moved even faster than before, going for a slash at throat-height for Issei which he leaned back from.

As he was cocking his arm back to counter, Issei's instincts screamed at him to move out of the way, causing him to kick away from the girl hard, watching as her other hand following through with a swiping motion, the trail of blood from her lips, chin, teeth, and the patch on the ground rising and coalescing into a second blade in her off-hand.

Issei watched the girl clang together the two blades that he now knew without a doubt were made of blood ( _That can't be hygienic_ ), before a red line appeared on the left side of her face.

She then sped up again, reaching Issei and releasing a myriad of slashes that he endeavored to either dodge completely or redirect with his boosted gear, managing to keep her from cutting him further, before he punched at her.

" **Shotgun Burst!** "

A burst of round, green projectiles made of Issei's power rushed towards the girl, some getting deflected by her, the others dodged.

She opened her mouth, ready to boast...

" **Compression shot!** "

Only to move slightly to the side, barely managing to avoid getting her left lung and heart destroyed, leaving her with a bleeding hole in the shoulder instead.

Not willing to give her any more time, Issei compressed his power again.

" **Compression sho-!** "

He was forced to jump back as a puddle of blood under him rose into extremely sharp spikes that would have skewered him, before he watched the blood flow from her wound upwards, coalescing into a sphere, before it took the shape of a red spear.

" **Bloody Javelin!** "

The spear flew at Issei stupidly fast, with his dodge managing to only end up with him getting a gash to the side of the body, instead of being run through. He watched a third red line appear on the girl's face, an euphoric grin accompanying it as the hole on her shoulder started rapidly closing.

Raising her hands, the girl caused all of the blood around the two of them to rise into the air, before fashioning them into hundreds of tiny blades. Her hands swayed forth, while she called out in a crazed tone.

" **Bloody Grinder!** "

The blades all flew towards Issei, poised to shred him from all angles...

" **Surge!** "

Before an aura of electricity popped up around him, causing all of the blood blades to slam into said aura before falling to the ground, inert.

The arching electricity started receding back towards Issei, surrounding him as a sort of cloak. His eyes gained a slightly yellow tinge, archs of electricity crackling between the spikes in his hair, while a small but constant stream of electricity started orbiting around the **Boosted Gear**.

" **Shining Dragon's Coat!** "

Then, Issei vanished into a blur.

The girl's eyes widened, the two blades reforming in her hands before she raised them over her chest in a cross guard, only for Issei's gauntleted fist to burst though the two of them, slamming into her chest and tossing her backwards.

Issei's muscles started spasming, something which he ignored as he threw himself towards the redhead, his arm cocked back, but his fist open this time, with the intent of using his claws to skewer the girl.

He felt his claws dig slightly into her torso before a level of resistance started emerging, as if something tried pushing him back from the inside out, before he got kicked in the face hard, being forced back away from the girl.

He pointed his fist towards her, a ball of mixed Yellow and Green energies coalescing in front of his knuckles, while the girl raised her hand up high, a manic grin on her face as she spoke.

" **Bloody R-** "

" **WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?** "

 _ **~oOo~**_

All sounds of combat stopped as the people present turned towards the queen of the Luxurian empire dressed in only her nightgown, a dangerous scowl on her face. Behind her stood Xinthia, and a handful of armored succubi, as did Phillip.

"AH!"

Everyone's focus changed, their eyes stopping on the cloaked form that had Lilith in a headlock, his voice garbled as he spoke.

"Let's not get hasty, here. I have something you want, you have something I want. First of all, Mary, get over here."

The redhead pouted childishly at that, before giving Issei a radiant smile, her tone genuine ( _Intermingled with a helping of crazy_ ) as she spoke.

"I had a lot of fun playing with you! You made me bleed, and I made you bleed, and I was actually about to use my totally secret weapon!"

She walked backwards until she was next to the cloaked figure, even as she kept speaking.

"Unfortunately the bossman is calling, but I hope to be able to play with a cutie like you some other occasion!"

The cloaked figure turned towards Laveria, before speaking up.

"I have one wish, and one wish alone. Grant it and your princess will not be harmed."

Gritting her teeth, Laveria spoke up.

"What. Is. It."

"...I want the seed."

Laveria sucked a breath in through her teeth, even as the majority of the succubi behind her squeaked or cried out in outrage. Silencing them all with a motion, Laveria spoke up.

"...I cannot give it to you."

The figure shrugged at that, before raising his hand, which possessed a matte-black ball in it's grip.

"Very well, then I guess I'm keeping the princess as the prize. Goodbye!"

" **Shining Shot!** "

An electrically charged **Compression shot** streaked towards the cloaked figure's head, but an octogonal panel made of blood rose in it's way, deflecting the attack and causing it to shred at the hood instead of exploding the figure's head, revealing the bruised and broken-nosed face of Travis Laucia.

Before anything else could be said or done, he smashed the ball into the ground, a massive curtain of smoke obscuring the clearing, before it was revealed that the three were no longer there.

Just like that, right in front of Issei's eyes, Lilith was taken.

 _ **~Chapter, End!~**_


	8. The Seed of Darkness

**Hello! I'm sure you know what comes next...**

 **Review Response corner!**

 **jvt135 says: "Good fight scene, good lime, great ending. This some good shit. My only complaint is that Travis and the Incubi seemed kinda cliche and generic. Im glad to see that Travis has some mystery stuff goin on, with the "seed" and all, but I think you can definitely make him a more interesting character than how he is portrayed in this chapter."**

 **A: You'll get a deeper understanding of Travis' nature, and that of Incubi in general, soon, so don't worry about that.**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "i know just cause they are waifus and have limes or lemons doesnt mean they are in the harem also no dont say things like that dont smash my dreams TT-TT**

 **im glad his training showing such good results so fast suoer nice**

 **that was pretty bad ass day he did super well too bad the lime got interrupted before it became a lemon it could have been a bit more before the cut off short on details**

 **nice fight i think ise might have won or tied who knows but i think he just revealed the boosted gear well he didnt even boost so base power nice**

 **no not succubus main waifu nooo that scumbag better not do anything welp time to go on a quest to rescue her right and possibly gain blood crazed waifu (kinda like toga bnha/mha)? also the incubus are kinda fucked"**

 **A: Issei's growing stronger and more astute as time goes. He knows that boosting strains him, making it better for use in short, single fights instead of multiple long battles, so he's using other skills and leaving Boosting for the last resort. That being said, his opponent seemed to have been interrupted as she was doing something, so keep that in mind.**

 **Gumball8866 says: "welp travis just pissed off a dragon, I wonder if well be seeing either the boosted gear balance breaker or the dreaded juggernaut drive?"**

 **A: Everything's a possibility. The future is uncertain, my friend.**

 **LuluViBritania says: "any more asinine gimick scenes like that only occur to interupt sex scenes will drastically lower the quality of this story FYI escape techniques like that are completly useless when in worlds were people can sense energy especially in DxD where not even Senjutsu users can suppress their life force to the point specific life force sensors(like Succubus/other Senjutsu users) cannot detect them. this is a serious plothole"**

 **A: It's not an asinine gimmick, it's a key event. Having the princess of a nation, and waifu of the main character kidnapped isn't a gimmick. Plus, this is a world of** _ **magic**_ **. There are escape magics such as dimension lost that allow one to just nope out of there at any moment, and there may be others like it. Not necessarily a plothole.**

 **snowyassass1n says: "Ohhh shit the rage of a Dragon next chapter...also huh looks this IS going to be one of those fics where the mc gets interrupted every time he tries to have some fun with his girls huh?"**

 **A: Not at all. The first time it was done, it was for a proper reason that will be explained soon. The second time it was a major event. It won't always get interrupted.**

 **RunDownLord says: "I need an explanation as to why Issei wasn't vaporised since he's still just a weak human who hasn't done any physical training yet.**

 **I thought the logical course of action would've been to boost as much as possible then transfer the power to Aquila, or does that not multiply her power?**

 **Lol. Waking up shirtless in a forest with a brand new tattoo. That's Amsterdam for you"**

 **A: The explanation comes in following chapters, you'll understand how Issei survived. Plus, Issei doesn't even know about the full capabilities of the Boosted Gear, so it wasn't an option at the moment.**

 **Winter Kitsu says: "Nice story btw so kunou won't be part of the harem? Shame..."**

 **A: As I said before, and keep saying, the future isn't set in stone, so one never knows what may happen.**

 **With that out of the way, it's time to get into the story!**

 **~oOo~**

" _ **Where is she**_?"

Everybody was taken aback at Issei's tone, none of them expecting the sheer malice that he exuded. The air stilled as the succubi and incubus watched the brunette turn around to face them, his angrily-narrowed eyes landing directly on Phillip, before he spoke again.

" **Where did he take her?** "

Bristling at Issei's tone, Phillip spoke up.

"Do not take that tone with me, child! You have no ide-"

He was interrupted by a blur of motion that slammed him back-first into a wall.

Issei had a tight grip around the old Incubus' neck with his right hand, which he also used to pin him to the wall, before pointing the sharp claws of the boosted gear straight to his eyes.

" **Start talking or I'll gut you like a fucking fish!** "

Indignation filled the old Incubus, but before he could do as much as summon his power, Laveria spoke up.

"Calm down, Issei. I am sure that Phillip had no idea about any of this happening."

Without turning away from Phillip, Issei spoke up.

"How can you be so sure?"

He suddenly felt an oppressive aura that he was familiar with, which was followed upon by Laveria speaking in a cold tone.

"He is aware of what I would do to him if I ever connected this plot to him."

Issei begrudgingly released Phillip, stepping away from him and trying to reorganize his thoughts. As he did this, he could hear Laveria speaking.

"I want Jenny and Hari analyzing the magical residue from their teleportation to see if it leads us somewhere. Xinthia, get your sharpest-minded together into an investigative squad, they'll go with Phillip's procession back to Bauxis and tear his castle apart in the search for clues. Lellian is to go with you, her gifts will make her very useful for this."

"I'm going as well."

Everyone focused back on Issei, who's face had assumed a look of obstination. Sighing at how she knew he would take it, Laveria spoke up.

"No, you are not, Issei."

"What? Why?"

"You are not a qualified investigator, as my people are. Your presence there could lead to the potential loss or destruction of evidence necessary to locate Lilith and Phillip's mistake. Other than that there is the fact that other men do not go into Incubus territory. They are attacked from all sides, often at the cost of their lives. It's part of incubi's instincts, to dispose of competition."

"..."

Issei wanted to contest this decision, to fight against Laveria until she let him go, but the knowledge that it could make it even more difficult to rescue Lilith held Issei back from doing it.

Instead Issei powered down, his teeth gritted as he turned his back on the entire group in frustration, heading back towards his room.

"Issei."

The brunette stopped mid-step at Laveria's call, prompting the succubus queen to speak on.

"Your training sessions with Xinthia are doubled in time. I need you to be ready."

Nodding once, Issei left for his room.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Lying in bed, awake, Issei could only toss and turn as he thought back to the fight.

' _I was the one who told Lilith to face that bastard... I should've had her get help, and taken them both on._ '

' **If you did, you would die.** '

' _...I could have stalled them enough for Lilith to get help!_ '

' **No, you could not, and you know that that's bullshit. You would have died, and she'd have to carry that guilt for the rest of her life. And unlike a kidnapping, death is irreversible. You can still save her.** '

' _I wouldn't have the need to save anyone if I were strong enough to at least defeat the one fighting me quickly! This is my fault more than anyone else's. I was the stronger one of the two of us, I should be taking care of her! Protecting her! I started working hard, trying to change so that I could avoid something like this, but it still wasn't enough! I'm still not strong enough!_ '

' **Then there is only one thing that you can do. Get stronger.** '

' _Will you help me do so, Ddraig?_ '

' **...Yes. I believe it is time to teach you more about the Boosted Gear, and it's powers.** '

 _ **~oOo~**_

Xinthia watched from a distance, her power completely suppressed, as Issei seemed to be thinking deeply, his face locked in a frown of concentration.

' **I believe this is a good opportunity to teach you more about the Boosted Gear's true capabilities.** '

' _...True capabilities?_ '

' **Yes. To be quite honest, you've only been using primarily the utmost basics of the Boosted Gear, which is the power multiplication. You've been increasing the amount of power you have available, your physical prowess, and the power of energy attacks you've been using, but that's all you've been doing. The only "ability" proper you have is the power given to you by the Aquila Victis.** '

' _Why didn't you tell me about any of this before?_ '

' **Because you were doing well enough as you were. Fact of the matter is, most users of the Boosted Gear become completely dependent on it's power, neglecting pretty much any other avenue of growth. You, Issei, have been doing the opposite. You've been working in the manipulation of power itself for combat purposes, and developing skills and abilities other than those linked to the gear itself, abilities that possess an intrinsic combat value.**

 **Your electrical aura, for example, would allow you to fight even without the Boosted Gear. Other than that, you've been fighting smart as much as you are fighting hard. If I told you of a quick way to get stronger faster that depended completely on the Boosted Gear, it's possible that you'd focus completely on that, to the detriment of your development in general.**

 **You won't always be able to make use of the Boosted Gear's powers, so you need to have more than that in your pocket.** '

' _...I see._ '

' **Yes. Now, for the Boosted Gear's powers. The innated ability of the Boosted Gear is the ability to double the power of it's wielder every 10 seconds, up until their body's upper limit. That tended to create a limitation on the maximum power output of the user based on their physical capability, which meant that humans would take years upon years to get to a significant level.**

 **You managed to get around this limitation by compressing the energy generated by the Boosted Gear outside your body, meaning that your only strain is to channel the energy needed for the physical enhancement. In that way, you're already ahead of the curve as far as boosting goes. Just remember that you can boost pretty much any other ability of your own.**

 **A subset of this ability is called [EXPLOSION], which instead of subjecting your body to these gradual, unlimited increases of power that also result in increased physical strain, depends on the Boosted Gear's ability to measure an opponents power, building up only the required amount to overcome them, before releasing it onto your body.**

 **This ability allows the user to minimize the strain of the continuous doubling of their power via a self-imposed limit, when the normal use of the Boosted Gear could have your power doubling beyond the one needed to defeat a weaker enemy, just for virtue of how long you take to defeat them, instead of how difficult it would be to do so. However, after the [EXPLOSION] the is a [RESET], wherein all built up power fades, and you become unable to [BOOST] for a certain time period.**

 **You've actually been passively using half of this ability. Your boosted gear has been continuously active for over a month now, but the boosts only start when you intend them to. All you need to do now is grasp the power measuring and storing facets of the gear.**

 **The third ability of the Boosted Gear is more of a supplemental one, than one that you can use directly, which is the Boosted Gear Gift. It allows you to [TRANSFER] your built-up power to another person or object. You can do this for more than a single person/object, but the results will be inferior, and there will be more wasted energy. You can also use this ability to focus more power into a specific part of your body, to get a result beyond the general boost you already have to your physical condition.**

 **Another ability of the Boosted Gear that I have recently figured out, from your contact with the Eagle of Victory and Tantric Energy, is the fact that the Boosted Gear seems capable of storing other powers within itself. I believe that the same could be done with objects, but I'm not sure about that part.**

 **Those are the Boosted Gear abilities that you can access.** '

' _...That sentence implies there are more._ '

' **Indeed there is, however you are not ready for it right now. Not physically, and especially not mentally. If you tried to go beyond and reach the next step, you would either die, or lose yourself completely, go on a rampage, and kill and destroy everything around you until either your lifeforce was depleted, or you were killed.** '

' _That's bad._ '

' **Very. Now, you should get started with your training.** '

 _ **~oOo~**_

" _Hah... Hah..._ "

Xinthia watched Issei with a mixture of admiration and trepidation. He had been training continuously for 5 hours, mixing his attempts at mastering his sacred gear with his physical development training.

"...I can do this... First... **Shining Dragon's Coat**!"

A sparking aura of electricity surrounded Issei, causing his clothes to rustle, as did his hair, the tattoo on his arm gaining an intense yellow glow, as did the **Boosted Gear** 's jewel.

"Now..."

 **[BOOST]**

The arcs of electricity surged around him, pushing outwards and breaking the ground under him as they went, while Issei's face changed into a focused frown.

' _Instead of boosting a bit at a time..._ '

The brunette crouched into a battle stance, his eyes closing as he focused on the shadow of a previous opponent. He managed to conjure up the image of the girl he had been fighting the previous night, the one Travis had called Mary. She was standing across him, a pair of red blades in her hands and ready for use.

His eyes snapped open in an instant before he swayed, dodgin an imaginary bladed swipe for his throat, repeating the action before hopping backwards. He focused primarily on dodging the slashes, not wanting to give her more blood with which to attack him, even as he tried to focus on building up power in his sacred gear.

' _Focus... Focus..._ '

He felt a good amount of power starting to build up in his gauntlet even as he fought the shadow...

[ **BOOST** ]

Until his power doubled, with the excess of built-up power just dispersing uselessly. The jarring sensation of his power just slipping out of his body caused him to stumble, giving enough time for his imaginary opponent to go for a stab to the chest, one which he had to block with his right forearm before retreating, meaning a crippled arm and more blood for 'Mary' to work with.

Considering this training session another failure, Issei banished his imaginary opponent before allowing his power to fade. The exhaustion of continuous exercise caught up to his body, causing him to sway before falling over forwards. Expecting to meet hard ground, Issei was surprised when he felt something warm and hard propping him up.

"Did you forget your instructor already, maggot?"

The brunette looked up, his gaze falling on Xinthia's amused face.

"Xinthia? What are you doing here?"

Raising her eyebrow, the succubus responded.

"I don't know for sure, but it is a possibility that my presence here is connected to the fact that this is the area where I'm supposed to instruct you at, and that we were supposed to train today."

"Oh. I guess I got so caught up in what I was doing that it slipped my mind."

Sighing at that, Xinthia allowed Issei to lean on her as he unsteadily walked back to the castle, before her curiosity reared it's head.

"About that... _What_ exactly were you doing? I watched you shadow box for a while, before just lowering your fists and restarting, again and again, but I didn't really understand what you were trying to achieve."

"I was trying to learn to use one of the **Boosted Gear** 's techniques, the ability to raise my power to the level specifically required to defeat a certain opponent, without having to constantly up my power gradually during the fight and wear my own stamina down."

"Have you thought about having an actually living opponent to test this ability on? Because I'm not sure your **Boosted Gear** can respond to the power level of a nonexistent shadow."

"..."

' **...** '

"I'm an idiot."

"Indisputable fact." ' **That was a known quantity.** '

Issei felt like crying.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"You have questions."

Issei nodded at Laveria, any levity wiped from his countenance.

"What is this... _Seed_ object?"

"The Seed... It is an artifact of great power that figures proeminently in Luxurian mythos. It has a long history."

"We can't do anything until your people figure out where Lilith is, so I'd say we have much time."

"I see. To know what the Seed is, you need to know it's origins. It all began with the Biblical God.

As you may know, the first beings He made were the Angels, those who were to serve as his aides, to serve, love and worship him eternally. However, as you know, his first creation, Lucifer, rebelled against him, and so he was banished from the Heavens forever.

That, however, seemed to have given him the understanding that worship from beings made specifically to worship him was not wholly satisfying, and that it could lead to betrayal, hatred and resentment. In that moment, he decided to create beings of free will, those who could make the choice in whether to believe, or not to.

He started by creating the Garden of Eden. A place of purity, and peace, that would protect and harbor what he intended to be his greatest creations. Then, he made the plants and animals, so that these beings of his had company, sustenance, and beauty to behold.

After having created the perfect conditions in Eden, He took two handfuls of dirt, shaped them and gave them the gift of life, giving origin to Adam and Lilith, the first humans.

However, not all was good. As you know, everything that exists has an opposite facet, the other side of the coin.

Just as Light gave origin to Darkness, and Love to Hatred, the Purity and Virtue within the first humans gave origin to Corruption and Sin.

Not wanting sin to taint his ultimate creations, He took all of the world's evils, those which existed beyond the borders of Eden, and decided to place them within Eden itself, under his protection and watchful eye.

He condensed sin into as small a form as he could and then buried it, expecting it to be forever hidden. He did not expect sin to not desire to be hidden.

This desire caused Sin to reveal itself as it could, and the Seven Deadly Sins grew into the form of massive trees, each of them bearing fruit.

He was unaware of this, focused as he was on his creations, so He had not devised a way to protect them from it. Things came to a head as Lilith ended up wandering into the wrong section of Eden.

Feeling hunger, she chose the fruit of one of the trees and ate it.

The fruit she ate had been the concentrated for of the Sin of Lust. However, pure as she was, Lilith did not become 'Corrupted' by it, per se. He innocent, naive mind interpreted Lust not as a detestable, sinful ideal, but as a way for one to express their love and appreciation to their partner.

Lilith went to Adam and she tried to show him her new form of love, the one that derived from the warmth of the loins, but God happened to see, and he did not like it.

He asked Lilith about what she desired to do, and how she reached her conclusion after the explanation had been given, which lead to him discovering the various Fruits of Sin. Feeling that the Sin had irrevocably corrupted Lilith, yet still loving her as a Father loves their child, he banished her from Eden, sending her out into the world with a protector to ensure that she would not be harmed by others.

Out in the world, Lilith did her best to spread her manner of professing Love to others, something which spread throughout the various pockets of humanity existing outside of Eden, those that were under the jurisdiction of the other Pantheons.

With Lust spreading universally throughout the planet and the various beings that inhabited it, so did Lilith's power, and her desire to find a partner to complete her.

This enormous amount of power attracted the attention of Lucifer. Lucifer decided to lay with Lilith to gain powerful offspring, so that they could be used to wage war against heaven itself, however he was not successful as Lilith believed Lust to be a manner of expressing love, and she did not feel any love for Lucifer.

Understanding this, Lucifer figured out another plan. He would use his silver tongue to corrupt Lilith, until she finally allowed herself to be bedded by him. Day after day, week after week, Lucifer constantly approached Lilith and whispered evil things in her ear, trying to corrupt her and her ways.

Eventually it started working, and an evil emotion started blossoming within her heart, Jealousy. Jealousy for the fact that God loved Adam more than her. Jealousy for the fact that Adam loved God more than he did her. Jealousy for the fact that those she taught managed to find love, and she did not.

However, the still was a part of the old Lilith within her heart that understood the true nature of Lust, and that abhorred this new feeling. When Lilith promised Lucifer to lay with him and bear him children out of spite, this part decided that enough was enough. It ejected itself from the whole that was Lilith, taking with it the truth of Lust and leaving behind a hollow echo of that power. Said Echo was enough to trick Lucifer and the shell of whom used to be Lilith, and the two joined together and gave origin to devils.

The true essence of Lilith supressed her power and hid amongst humans with her guardian. While living as a human, she caught the eye of a blacksmith. Said blacksmith was successful in courting Lilith, resulting in the two getting married.

Eventually they decided to have children, which lead to Lilith telling him of her true origins, and her story, expecting him to reject her. However, he told her that her origins had no importance in the face of his love, and the two laid together.

Lilith became with child eventually, giving birth to the first Succubus in history, Leona. Desiring to hide the nature of their daughter in order to protect her from both humans and the supernatural, Lilith and her husband left their village and decided to live in solitude, in a far away forest.

Father, Mother and Daughter lived together happily for many years, but eventually the Blacksmith's human nature caught up with him, and he died of old age.

Mother and Daughter mourned for him, and for Lilith, her one true love had passed away at that moment.

Eventually Lilith felt the desire to have more children, but she was unwilling to lay with another man, not wishing to let go of the memory of her husband, so she instead did something different.

She took as much Tantric Energy into herself as she could and concentrated it within her womb, her only instruction for it being 'to give life'. After some time she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Sparda and Ayala.

Eventually Leona went out into the world, searching for a lover of her own, while Lilith raised Sparda and Ayala, and kept spawning more children, giving origin to more Succubi and Incubi.

A good few years later, after more of her children went out into the world, Lilith decided that she had lived enough and that she wanted to go meet her love in the afterlife. In order to do this, however, she would have to give away the power of Lust to another, making herself into a mortal woman once again, and that's where the troubles started.

Her various sons and daughters started fighting amongst themselves, trying to determine who was the worthiest of them all to inherit Lilith's power.

Amongst all of her children, with the exception of the absent Leona, only Sparda and Ayala kept the peace, neither of them desiring to have the power to themselves. That led to her final decision.

Lilith reached out to her oldest daughter, Leona, to return home, and she did so with her husband; and to her God-assigned Guardian.

There, in front of all her assembled children, Lilith split the power of lust in two, bestowing half onto Ayala and the other half into Sparda, before tasking Leona and her Guardian to ensure that the two were safe and protected.

Leona and Ayala set off with their sisters and established Luxuria, while Sparda and their brothers established Bauxia, the two nations kept separate by decision of their leaders, Leona and Sparda, in an attempt to keep the two halves of the power of Lust separate.

However, this peaceful solution did not suffice. As the older generation grew old and either perished or gave power to the next generation, the spirit of peace was forgotten by both sides. Dissatisfied factions emerged amongst either nation's people, some desiring to rise to power over their own nation, others wishing to wage war upon the opposite one for various reasons, amongst them a sense of inherent superiority based on their gender, or a simple desire to take the other half of the power of lust to themselves.

In an attempt to stymie their people's unrest without resorting to civil war, both nations declared all-out war on eachother, which was interspersed with some short resting periods as each side took the time to lick their injuries, before going back to fighting one-another.

Things came to a head a few centuries ago, during the 'Battle of the Blood River'.

Back then, my mother and Phillip's father were still reigning, and while both weary of war, neither desired to turn things into a civil conflict within their own nations.

Me and Phillip were designated as squad leaders during a specific battle, one that was waged in a stretch of no-man's-land that possessed a particularly large, wide and dangerous river running through it, with the bigger, primary bridge being up north, while down south, where the river ran somewhat shallower and not as dangerous, there was only an old, dilapidated bridge, one that no-one could ensure wouldn't rot away at a moment's notice.

Our strategies happened to mirror one-another in that there was a main designated squad fighting up river, at the main bridge, while the secondary squad was supposed to sneak into enemy territory through the secondary one and set up an attack, with the intent to split their focus between the front and backline, and to take them down in the confusion.

Our two squads were designated to cross the older, more decrepit bridge, ended up meeting eachother, and we ended up fighting. The battle was long and arduous, and I lost many a friend, but things eventually reached a climax when only Phillip and I were standing. The two of us engaged in battle with ferocity, neither wishing to lose and dishonor themselves, their nation and their parent.

Our battle stopped when Phillip and I fell into the water, and instead of finding the clear water that we expected, we were dunked into a river of red.

Then, seeing the corpses of our friends and allies littering the bridge, battered and broken, their blood painting the whole river red, the two of us lost any desire to fight with eachother. We rallied the remainder of our squads, and together, we marched into the primary battlefield.

We managed to force either side to retreat, before we managed to convince our parents to enter diplomatic relations, and eventually peace.

This resulted in civil war in both nations, as the militant factions disagreed with the ruling of the royal families."

"Wait a second."

Laveria gave Issei her attention, prompting the brunette to speak up.

"I asked you about the 'Seed', and you start talking about Eden, and Adam and Lilith, and end up in civil war?"

"Just pay attention and you will eventually understand where I'm heading with this."

Shrugging, Issei sat back into his seat while Laveria resumed her explanation.

"I can't speak for Bauxia and Phillip, but I can definitely say that the Luxurian civil war was more brutal than any other battle I had fought in before. The leader of the other side was a Granddaughter of Ayala, Jianna, and she possessed immense potential using Tantric Energy, and all it's various magics. My mother felt that she was too old to be capable of competing with her, so the task fell to me.

I disagreed with her. I might have had four pairs of wings back then, but Jianna was much stronger than me, being on the verge of gaining a fifth pair. That's when my mother told me about a method of gaining enough power to defeat Jianna."

"The Seed."

"Indeed. You see, Ayala and Sparda feared that as long as the powers within themselves lived on, their possessors and the entire world would forever live in danger. So, instead of passing the powers on, they allowed the powers to die with them. Literally.

Ayala's burial place is a secret kept only by the Luxurian royal family, the blood descendants of Lilith through Leona. It is protected by a massive beast of great power-"

"The wolf."

"-and it is also the place where the Seed can be found. You see, Issei, high amounts of concentrated power generally have a hard time dispersing. Ayala died with half of the power of Lust, the spiritual aspect, within her, and that power did not wish to disperse.

It coalesced, instead, in the form of a fruit tree, as was within it's nature from the beggining. However, since the power Ayala possessed was incomplete, the tree could not bestow the full power of Lust. Instead, any fruit that this tree gives grants the eater an extreme increase in Tantric Energy reserves, and a deeper connection to the power of Lust."

"...So, the seed is a fruit from a tree, that increases sex power?"

"Not just sex power, but the connection that one has with their inner lust. This makes one's inherent sensuality shine if they possess it, and actually _grants_ sensuality to someone that does not possess it. It makes any individual the closest they can be to a succubus in nature, without actually being a succubus; exuding a constant allure that in low amounts gets the attention of, and in higher amounts completely enthralls someone of the opposite gender as a general norm, and occasionally an individual of the same gender, if they happen to be so inclined.

This deeper connection also gives the eater an increased aptitude with Tantric Energy manipulation. Consuming it has the potential to instantly make a low-class fighter into a high-class one... If they do not lose their mind to it, that is."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me, Issei... How did it feel to you when you were getting it on with Bernice? Did you feel any foreign impulses? A guiding force? Perhaps even a voice nudging you into doing certain things?"

The brunette blinked owlishly, before responding.

"I... Actually, that's exactly what happened back then, and when I was with Lilith. There's this tiny voice in the back of my mind telling me the best moment to do each thing."

"That is a direct consequence of how close you are to your inner Lust. You are closer than almost any other human ever, Issei, to the point that you are comparable to a Succubus or Incubus in that aspect. Now imagine what would happen if you were listening to that voice day and night, year after year for the rest of your life as if it were someone screaming into your ear through a megaphone. That is how it feels to gain a deeper connection with your inner lust. Returning from that is extremely difficult.

Believe me, I know."

"So eating the fruit would make someone incapable of resisting into a sex maniac incapable of functioning in the real world?"

"Worse, a sex maniac incapable of proper functioning in the real world, with an insatiable desire to sexually conquer others, and an Allure that only the stronger willed individuals can resist. It would be catastrophic. Humanity would constantly stop functioning whenever this person emerged, with everyone's lusts overflowing to the point that they'd perform acts of insanity, such as engage in sex with animals, or inannimate objects. The individuals with stronger drives or with darker fetishes would be completely unable to keep their impulses at bay, which would lead to them hurting people, especially innocents.

Traffic accidents would occur as the drivers forgot everything about driving and traffic regulations and focused instead on reaching the climax of sexual pleasure at any cost. The supernatural world would not be unaffected either, with the majority of the supernatural beings falling for this sexual frenzy. Beings of purity would be corrupted, beings of vice and sin would predate on all others, regardless of the consequences.

Humanity would be made aware of the supernatural. And then things would get really ugly."

"I can imagine. The few humans either strong-willed or lucky enough to be unaffected by this sexual aura would be horrified and enraged about the fact that an entire world was capable of acting in a hidden manner as the supernatural world has, in a manner that allows them to predate on normal humans without being made accountable for their acts.

Fear would fuel paranoia, which, in turn, would fuel hatred and prejudice. War would break out between humans and the supernatural wherever it could be reached, and when high-to-ultimate class beings were brought into the equation, so would nuclear arms."

"Yes. It would be the end of the world as we know it. It's the reason why the Seed is kept protected at all moments, and why no-one is allowed to just consume it at will. Anyone incapable of resisting the Seed's influence is to be immediately terminated."

"I see. It's harsh, but it's the best thing to do in this situation."

"I'm glad you understand that. That means that you probably won't object to the fact that I intend for you to eat it."

If Issei's mouth was full he'd either have spat everything out, or choked on it. A befuddled look came onto his face as he processed what Laveria had told him, but she spoke up before he could respond.

"Of course, I do not speak lightly, nor without considerable thought. My initial objective was to use the Seed on you after years of training, first with Xinthia, then myself, in the ability to use your Tantric Energy, and in resistance to mental attacks, however things changed when my baby girl got kidnapped.

You may not have noticed this, Issei, but you are quite literally our only hope." 

"What? What do you mean? You have an army, and there are monsters like Xinthia and yourself here! I mean, I want to do my absolute best to help rescue Lilith, but I'm not going to pretend that the chances wouldn't be higher with someone of Ultimate class or higher in the matter."

"As much as I'd like to lead the search for my daughter personally, I cannot do so, Issei. The truth is that Luxuria is a heavily sought-after country. Various individuals would like to get their hands on Succubi, be it to use them as bedwarmers, pets or trophies, or for the possibility of learning to harness one of the most powerful, and plentiful powers in the whole world, which Lust happens to be.

If it was noticed that either high amounts of, or a few high-level succubi were on the move, the rest of the factions of the world would shift their focus onto us, and try to profit from the situation in some manner. Hiring mercenaries would be foolhardy, as they would gain much more in the form of favor and esteem by selling the information that the Luxurian princess was missing to other groups, than they could gain in wealth from us.

Everyone and their mothers would try to seize Lilith, and use her however possible, including as a pollitical piece in an attempt to get me to act, and give concessions, and so on and so forth.

I am extremely reticent in asking for support from Incubi, and I'm quite sure you understand why, given the circumstances behind this whole ordeal. You are, quite literally,Lilith's only hope.

And as much as it might hurt you to hear this, you are not ready.

The magical residue from the teleportation didn't lead to anywhere concrete, and instead just pointed west. Other than that, the signature was muddled so that the race and individual behind the enchantment could not be detected. That means Travis is recieving some serious backing, and that probably means henchment and women in various power classes, with the possibility of one or two ultimates.

You may be capable of defeating a mid-class, maybe even match a high class if your went all out with no concern for burning yourself out, but those odds would absolutely crush you. However, learning to harness the power of your own Lust would push you far beyond how strong you currently are. Together with your lightning abilities, and your Boosted Gear, you should be capable of matching an Ultimate-class fighter."

"...Fine. I'll do it."

"Not so fast. Consuming the seed right now would completely overwhelm you. No, what you'll be doing instead is training with Xinthia. I have already instructed her to shift the focus from increasing your raw combat capabilities, to making you as proficient and resistant to Tantric Energy as possible."

 **~14 days later~**

"No, no, no! You're a human, you can't just shunt the power to your body! You need to split the Tantric Energy from your inherent magic, and then give it the instruction to harden while simultaneously infusing it within the bodypart, object or weapon that you wish to Reinforce!"

Issei wiped his brow clean of the deluge of sweat pouring off of him, his breaths coming out in tired gasps and wheezes. He looked down at his right arm which was shaking intensely from the sheer amount of times he sent an excessive amount of power into it, overtaxing it's resistance.

"Again, Maggot! And this time like you mean it!"

Gritting his teeth angrily, Issei focused back on splitting the threads of power from one another even as the purple threads fought against his efforts, trying their best to stay mixed together with the other colors.

'Wait a second... I could...'

Closing his eyes and focusing deeply, Issei grabbed as much Tantric Energy as he could and pushed it into the Boosted Gear, allowing the remainder of the sacred gear's own energy to focus on boosting his body's base abilities.

' _Now, I can try that_!'

"HAH!"

 **[TRANSFER]**

Issei felt the raw Tantric Energy start shifting, flooding towards his right forearm.

' _Harden... Harden... HARDEN, GODDAMNIT_!'

Purple markings akin to a tribal tattoo sleeve spread along Issei's arm, causing Xinthia's eyebrows to raise, while Issei himself could only marvel at how physically powerful he felt at that moment.

Intent on testing that power, Issei cut off the flow of the Boosted Gear's multiplied power from the entirety of his body before walking towards a tree. Instead of punching or slapping it as would be the norm, he decided to do something different.

Issei grabbed the tree right by the middle of the trunk, positioning his hand for the best possible grip before he squeezed. His fingers sunk into the tree itself, giving him a great grip on it, before he tensed the muscles in his arm, and pulled.

"Holy shit..."

The brunette could only stare almost incredulously at the tree that he had ripped from the ground by the roots with way less effort than expected, using an energy that didn't tax his body to channel and store, and that instead made it sturdier, and easier to keep together.

"This ability is fucking amazing!"

"Yes, it is, and you've only scratched the surface. Your application is incomplete, the power hasn't properly settled in your arm, probably due to the fact that you cheated and used your Boosted Gear for it. When you manage to directly Reinforce things, you'll understand just how powerful a properly trained user of Tantric Energy can be. Now go hit the showers, we're done for today."

"Yes!"

Dropping the tree in his grip, Issei allowed the Tantric Energy that had been shunted into his arm to disperse throughout his body, taking off his shirt to wipe himself clean of sweat as he headed back into the castle.

His focus was still on his training even as he headed towards his room, causing him to miss the speculative and appreciative looks from the maids as he had been ever since Lilith had been abducted.

He closed the door behind him after entering his room, then procceeded to disrobe on the way to his bathroom.

He allowed the warm water to loosen the knots that had built up in his muscles, providing him a good level of relief, before actually washing off the sweat and grime. Toweling his hair dry, Issei walked back to his room naked and still wet...

"Hello, Issei~"

Only to meet the latest annoyance of his life.

Well, it was more 'one annoyance' out of a set of many. The day after Lilith was abducted, a bunch of Laveria's sistes and cousins showed up in a display of 'solidarity', bringing with them their own daughters in a transparent attempt at securing any one of them the role of the Luxurian heiress.

Ever since they first caught sight of him shirtless, and the Tantric Energy rolling off of him pretty much after every training session with Xinthia, they had tried their absolute best to lure him into their bed.

Issei kept ignoring them and went out of his way to avoid them, to their irritation, and seemed to be stuck on their 'annoying cousin Lilith' instead, prompting them to just try harder, and to up the ante, with this latest attempt being the boldest one amongst them so far.

"You seem very stressed, why not allow me to help you... Unwind~?"

Eleanor, the firstborn of Laveria's second sister, was lying on Issei's bed, completely naked, her seductive aura flaring at full strength.

The brunette completely ignored her, moving past the bed without as much as sparing her a look. His face stuck in neutral mode, Issei worked on choosing a set of clothes for himself, only to feel a pair of arms wrapping around his neck from behind, even as a large, soft pair of breasts pressed onto his back.

" _Mou~_ , won't you even look at me? Am I that ugly?"

Issei did not respond to her, prompting her to up the stakes again and to reach around him, her hand going for his-

"Stop."

She was surprised by the simultaneous application of a commanding tone of voice and a tight grip on her wrist stopping her from her prize.

"Come now, Issei, I've heard from the maids about you, how you're a hot-blooded male with a healthy appreciation of the female body. Why do you deny yourself access to my body? Why not just let me do something that we both know you'll enjoy?"

"Because this is not the time to be doing something of this sort. My girlfriend is missing, kidnapped. My focus is on that, and that alone, for now and until that situation is resolved. Your behavior surprises me, however. Did you not come here to show solidarity for Lilith, and to give support to Queen Laveria?"

Eleanor scoffed out loud, before responding.

"Solidarity? You know as well as I do that none of those shallow bitches I call cousins came here to show any level of solidarity, or support. Our mothers basically brought us here in some sort of macabre interview with auntie Laveria, to see who gets to become Heiress of the Luxurian throne after Lilith is pronounced dead!

I don't care about Lilith, my mother doesn't care about Lilith, my aunts and cousins don't care about Lilith, and you won't even remember her after I'm through with you, so just do what you're supposed to as a man, toss me onto that bed and have your way with me, goddamnit!"

Eleanor squealed in delight as she felt herself be tossed onto the bed, with Issei standing over her, naked, his eyes shaded by his bangs. She was already drooling just by imagining getting her lips around that thick, juicy-

"Out."

The succubus blinked owlishly, before speaking up.

"W-what did you say?"

"I told you to get out."

Incredulity and anger filled her simultaneously, prompting her to explode at him.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? Who in their right mind would refuse to fuck someone as hot as me when they're all but spreading their legs for them? There has to be something wrong with you!"

"I already told you to get out of my room."

"Is this about that entitled little count of a cousin of mine? Miss 'I'm too good to spend time with you skanks', miss 'I'm the fucking princess, so I'm better than you'. Is that it? She's worthless, a non-factor by now!"

" **OUT**!"

Issei's voice was backed by an explosion of power from him that threw Eleanor and the bed she lied on across the room. The succubus fell from the bed mid-flight, which was probably good for her as the bed shattered on the opposite wall of the room.

A green aura of power rose around the naked form of Issei as he glared at Eleanor who sported a nasty sneer, before speaking up.

"If you don't fuck me right now, I'll tell everyone that you raped me! If you don't want to die, you better get on your knees and get your fucking head between my legs, right fucking now!"

The nimbus of energy around Issei intensified, creating scorch marks on the floor under him while sparks jumped all around his body. The sacred gear user took a menacing step towards Eleanor, while the nasty succubus kept speaking.

"I'm warning you! The punishment for forceful sexual relations with a succubus is death in all cases!"

Issei took another step towards her, his power causing his hair to whip around and various objects in his room to fly around him, while Eleanor's confidence waned slightly.

"I-I'm the Queen's niece! No way they'll l-let you get away with it!"

Step.

"T-the people will riot! T-t-they'll h-have your head for this!"

Step.

"O-one m-more step, and I'll... I'll scream!"

Step.

Eleanor opened her mouth to release a scream only for Issei's hand to wrap around her mouth, forcibly silencing her, and she had to shiver at the look of sheer, unbridled hatred that Issei gave her.

The brunette leaned towards the girl, his eyes narrowed and his pupils lengthening into slits, as he snarled out at her.

"Do you know what you're going to do right now, Eleanor? No? Well, let me tell you. You are going to get the hell out of my room. You get as far away from me as possible, and you stay there. You do not search for me, you don't try to send me messages through others, or seek me out in any possible way. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in very bad things happening to you. Nod if you understand."

Her eyes welling with terrified tears, the girl nodded as hard and fast as she possibly could with Issei's hand covering her mouth, prompting the brunette to finish.

"Good, you seemed to have understood. Now, I will release you and you will leave instantly. And if I ever hear you badmouth my girlfriend again... _**I will make you wish for death**_."

He released some of his Pressure onto her to make his point, before letting her go and stepping back. He watched as Eleanor dazedly made it back to her feet, making her way out of the room in an almost drunken sway, a wet trail going down her leg and staining his floor.

He exhaled tiredly as she left his line of sight, his shoulders sagging as the emotional weight of the whole matter finally hit him. An ugly feeling welled up in his chest, something dark, oily and disgusting, yet Issei reacted by swallowing it, and burying it deeper, considering it not to be a priority, or an immediate problem.

' _Now is not the time, Issei... You have to keep it together!_ '

Brushing off the previous interaction, the male sighed forlornly at the loss of another bed of his, before allowing his feet to take him to the dining room while his mind wandered.

His thoughts that were usually filled with breasts, butts, legs and thighs were lately full of images of him punching straight through Travis, to extremely bloody and gory results. Fantasy after fantasy of him getting payback on the bastard filled Issei's mind, attempting to drown him in anger, hatred and bile, and his ability to resist those impulses slipped more from him with each passing day.

Lately Issei wouldn't walk anywhere anymore, he'd stalk anywhere. His previous friendly and cheery disposition was gone, replaced with forced smiles and hidden brooding. His time was primarily invested in training, with less and less time being invested in eating, resting and relaxing, a situation which worried Ddraig greatly.

' _ **At the rate things are going, Juggernaut Drive is going to be a certainty... And with the other powers that he has...**_ '

But the dragon kept silent, knowing that this was the sort of issue that Issei had to figure out for himself.

The brunette re-asserted full control over his body as the dining room door came into sight, using his right hand to push them inwards...

"THERE HE IS! THE ONE THAT VIOLATED MY BABY GIRL! SEIZE HIM!"

Only to be met with a squad of guards that he had never seen around the castle before, all of them scowling, sneering or snarling towards him, various weapons, including swords, spears, axes and bows pointed towards him.

At the other end of the room Issei spotted the naked and crying figure of Eleanor being comforted by the myriad of cousins, many of them who had previously given him looks of lust and desire giving him now looks of either fear or disgust.

His head slowly, in an almost-lethargic moved back from Eleanor to the woman that had shouted out loud about someone being violated, before his neutral frown started twitching.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the corners of Issei's lips started turning upwards, a few light chuckles emerging from his chest.

 _CRACK._

"Really? Are you sure you want to do this?"

"OF COURSE I AM! You're a filthy wretch with no sense of decency, attacking my baby girl just because she refused your advances!"

The twitching of his lips stopped, leaving a placid, eerily-calm smile on his face, whiles his own voice assumed a similar tone.

"If you attack me I'm not holding back."

His relaxed countenance in the face of the overwhelming odds had some of the guards backing away slightly warily, preparing themselves to rebuff some sort of attack. Eleanor's mother, seeing this, unleashed her wings and tail, allowed her nails to grow until they were each as long as a man's forearm, and then let her **Pressure** flow outwards, revealing her to be at best mid-class.

"I'll separate your head from your shoulders myself!"

She slashed at his neck extremely fast, faster than almost anyone else in the room could even follow, only for Issei to dodge by taking a single backwards hop.

Angered, she dashed after the young man, delivering a wild flurry of slashes, only for him to dodge her, again and again.

Issei's retreat was gradually moving him towards a wall, causing a grin to emerge on the woman's face as she effectively trapped the boy.

"I HAVE YOU NO-urk!"

She was surprised by the lightning-encased fist that had embedded itself on her gut, taking her breath away and causing her to cough out some saliva, before she was forced to dodge an arching kick from her left that would have struck her temple and rendered her unconscious.

Rubbing at her sore stomach, her gaze returned to the brunette with his left arm encased in a cast, her eyes warily following the streaks of lightning that danced along his skin.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to take off my head? Come on and do it!"

The woman sneered at Issei, not managing to cover her wince of pain as she straightened back into her initial stance, keeping a wary gaze on the boy.

"I somewhat underestimated you and you got a lucky hit in. Won't happen again."

Issei responded to that by dashing towards her at an impressive speed, a streak of yellow left behind in his wake, before the sound of an explosion resounded throughout the dining room right before a blast of pressurized air, a consequence of Issei's leg meeting her right forearm.

Issei jumped away from the clash, flying head-first towards the wall before flipping middair, landing on it feet-first.

Allowing the momentum to force him to coil his legs, Issei blasted off towards the succubus, his feet aiming for her head, forcing her to sway to the side to avoid the blow, causing him to right himself middair before landing.

He then allowed his face to turn toward either side of him, noticing the fact that he had been surrounded by the armed soldiers.

The woman spoke up again.

"Surrender now, cur, and your death will be quick!"

"That one sounded particularly familliar right now... Anyways, I'm going to have to say _no_. **Surge!** "

A surge of electricity flew outwards from Issei, slamming into all of the succubi surrounding him and causing them to fly a considerable distance away from him, either dazed or unconscious.

The woman responded by brandishing her claws, allowing Issei to notice the fact that purple veins of power started creeping up along them in a **Reinforcement**.

' _If that's how she's playing..._ '

" **Sparking Dragon's Talons!** "

Shifting his right hand into a knife-hand posture, Issei allowed streaks of electricity to run down his arm and wrist, before stretching out beyond his hand in the shape of a single blade of yellow-colored solidified electricity, which released a light humming sound with each of Issei's movements.

With no more words to say, the two dashed towards eachother, **Reinforced** nails clashing with **Dragon Talons** and resulting in a bladelock. The succubus reared back her other hand before thrusting forwards, intent on skewering Issei's head.

Issei responded by changing the angle of the clash between blades before causing his **Talons** to grow longer, intercepting the second set of nails.

Tensing his arm, Issei pushed his attacker back, allowing the electric blade to disperse before pointing the palm of his hand towards her, then curling his fingers into tiger-claws.

" **Thunder repeater.** "

Small balls of electricity starting sparking at the tip of his four fingers and thumb before shooting towards his attacker, small balls of condensed electricity reminiscent of bullets forcing the woman to dash around Issei in an attempt to move out of his arm's way.

She shifted her weight in anticipation of an opportunity to pounce on Issei, causing the young man to jump backwards from her while increasing the firing rate of his **Thunder Repeater** , peppering the walls and floor of the room they were in with tiny, smoking holes, with melted slag at the edges.

He stopped firing his small bolts, splaying his fingers wide open and allowing a bigger ball of electricity to coalesce on the palm of his hand, causing his attacker to seize the opportunity and attempt to avoid the more dangerous attack by dashing towards them, her claws already mid-motion for her planned slash.

Issei already expected her to try to pounce in case he prepared a charge-type attack, which was exactly why he fled towards where he did. As he started charging his attack, Issei stepped on one of the swords of the unconscious succubi guards strewn around the room.

When his attacker dashed towards him, Issei's leg blurred as he kicked the sword towards her face, forcing her to stop mid-motion to dodge, managing to do so by a hair's breadth, giving Issei time to fully charge his attack.

" **Thunder Cannon!** "

The circular bolt of electricity shot towards his attacker and exploded on contact, discharging a good amount of electricity into her and throwing her through the double doors of the dining room out into the hallway.

The woman barely managed to keep her consciousness, her body showing the damage she acquired in the fight, while Issei slowly and calmly strode towards her, his left hand still within the sling that it hadn't left ever since Issei ended his training earlier that day, while he wiggled the fingers of his right hand in an attempt to get rid of their numbness.

He stood over the defeated succubus, his face still in it's placid, happy-looking state as he spoke with a light tone.

"Well, it seems my head is still attached to my shoulders, ne?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

The brunette spun preternaturally fast in response to the shout, his hand shooting towards Eleanor's throat, stopping her mid stabbing motion.

"Well, Eleanor, it seems that you got what you wanted all along, you have my attention now. The question is... _**Will it really be worth it when you're dead?**_ "

Eleanor leveled a glare on Issei, prompting him to squeeze her throat and cut off her air supply, causing her to start clawing at his hand with both of her own in an attempt to free herself, her feet kicking uselessly middair as her face purpled.

"Eleanor, my baby!"

Issei ignored the downed woman, his focus still on the purple-faced succubus that attempted to pry his hand away from her neck.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

Issei's focus shifted abruptly to Laveria, the source of the shout, causing him to absentmindedly release his hold on Eleanor's throat, causing her to fall back onto her ass on the floor as she greedily gulped air in, her fingers lightly touching the dark bruising around her throat.

"Oh hey Laveria. I was just attacked by these two lunatics, so I decided to have a little fun at their expense."

Eleanor's mother spoke at that, if one could call hysterical shouting 'speaking'.

"LUNATICS? FUN? THIS BASTARD ATTEMPTED TO VIOLATE MY BABY ELEANOR!"

Laveria's already serious countenance became even graver as she spoke.

"That's quite the accusation you're throwing out, Illyasova. I hope you have evidence."

Eleanor's mother, whose name had just been revealed to Issei to be Illyasova, gave Laveria an incredulous look before speaking up.

"Evidence? ISN'T ALL THE EVIDENCE YOU NEED RIGHT HERE? Felled succubi soldiers! The bruises along my baby girl's body, my own battered state, the fact that you found him STRANGLING HER! Is there any other conclusion one could draw?"

Laveria turned towards Issei, implicitly giving him a chance to defend himself before taking action.

Issei's response was to walk towards Eleanor and hoisted her up by the arm roughly, before dragging her towards Laveria.

Before Illyasova could speak out about her daughter being roughly handled, Issei spoke up.

"Look at the bruising around her neck, see the thickness and spacing of the finger marks there. They match this newest bruise on her left arm, from when I lifted her and dragged her towards you."

He then pointed towards her opposite arm, which showed a bruise similar to as if someone had grabbed her arm much too tightly, before pointing towards the slap-shaped bruise on her face.

"These are different than mine. Smaller hand size, lesser strength, and they were clearly applied by a _left_ hand. My left hand is encased in a cast."

Illyasova's eyes widened in surprise at those observations, as did the eyes of the other girls within the room that had been glaring at Issei earlier, before the brunette continued.

"She has a black eye, but it's size doesn't match the size of my closed fist, it's much too small, as if it were administered by someone with a smaller hand size. None of these things were done to her by me."

Laveria looked towards her sister, before speaking.

"There may be a conclusion or two that differ from the one you drew, Illya."

The Luxurian Queen turned towards her niece, adressing her directly.

"Facts don't seem to line up with the picture you wanted people to paint, Eleanor. Do you have anything to say for that?"

Seeing the doubt and skepticism in the eyes of everyone around her caused anger to emerge from Eleanor's heart, prompting her to explode, breaking the image of a 'hurt little girl' she had been trying to foster up until then.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO SIDE WITH HIM OVER ME? BELIEVE A TOTAL STRANGER OVER YOUR OWN NIECE? YOUR FLESH AND BLOOD?"

Ignoring Eleanor's disrespectful outburst, Laveria responded calmly.

"Issei isn't a total stranger. He is a remarkable young man that has earned my respect and esteem, just as he has earned my daughter's. I would accept no less for my son-in-law."

"So that's it? He gets to go free because he's _Little Lilith's_ Boytoy? Why do you insist on showing favoritism for a total failure of a succubus such as that bit-"

She stopped mid-sentence as a heavy **Pressure** centered itself on her, weighing her down to the point that she was unable to breathe.

The source of this pressure was Issei, who's face had changed into an almost feral look as he snarled at the girl. Issei's right arm shot towards Eleanor's throat with the intent to crush it with a single blow, a situation that only got averted due to Laveria taking Issei's wrist into a tight grip.

Dissatisfied with this, Issei's left shoulder moved as he woeked on removing his arm from the sling, only for Laveria to speak up.

"While I completely understand the intention behind this attack and wish to do something similar, I am going to have to ask you to calm down, Issei."

The brunette seemed to not even hear Laveria, managing to rip his sling appart, but before he could break free from the cast, Laveria spoke up, her voice laced with soothing magic.

" _ **Calm and Relaxed, Issei~**_ "

She reppeated the same words over and over again, causing the brunette's eyes to start drooping, his energies fleeing from him as he fell into a deep slumber.

Turning towards her sister, Laveria spoke up.

"I want you and your wretched crotch spawn packed and gone from my castle in 20 minutes, Illya."

Illyasova opened her mouth, only for Laveria to talk over her.

"Non-debateable. Leave."

Huffing, the adult succubus dragged herself to her feet, taking her daughter with her with the intent to pack their things.

As soon as the two were out of sight, Laveria spoke out loud to the rest of the assembled succubi.

"All of you scram! There's something better to do with your time at this moment. If there isn't, then find one! Out!"

They dispersed, taking away with them the unconscious soldiers as well, leaving behind only a deeply sleeping Issei and a worried-looking Laveria.

"His mental state seems to be slipping."

Laveria turned towards the side, watching as Xinthia, the source of the previous sentence, walked out from behind one of the hallway's pillars.

Tenderly stroking his head, Laveria responded.

"It's not surprising, or unexpected. He's been bombarded left and right with deeply shocking events and revelations for almost a month or two straight, now. Add to that the fact that his girlfriend was kidnapped right in front of him, the absurdly intense training regimens that he undertakes on his own volition, the lack of sleep and sexual release, and it'd be more unexpected, and more worrying, if he displayed no signs."

"...Do you still intend for him to eat the Seed and singlehandedly shoulder the burden of attempting to save Lilith?"

Sighing morosely, the Succubus queen responded.

"You know that there is no other way, Xinthia. All any of us could do now would be to put our trust and belief in Issei. To believe that he'll be able to overcome this, that he'll be capable of resisting the Seed's influence, and that he'll ultimately succeed in saving Lilith.

I know that it's unfair to put such a large burden on the shoulders of a single young man who has just recently found out about the supernatural, but... If I cannot believe in Issei and hope for his success... The only alternative would be to give into despair, and to give up on my baby girl.

It may be selfish of me... But I'm not going to do that. Ever. No matter the cost."

" 'No matter the cost' almost cost you your own life back then during the civil war, against-"

"I know, Xinthia."

"Are you willing to accept the possibility of something like that occuring again?"

"I believe Issei would be most comfortable sleeping in a proper bed, to catch up with all the hours he's lost over the weeks."

Xinthia nodded at that, allowing Laveria to change the subject of their conversation, aware of the fact that her queen would look at things through various different paradigms now before taking action, or pushing others into doing so.

Still, she did not believe that her queen would change the course of her actions. She just hoped that Issei could rise up to the challenges in his path, and the expectations that were being set for him.

 _ **~Chapter; END!~**_

 **I know that this chapter took a long ass time to come out, but there are legitimately good reasons for that. One of them is the fact that I lost the first few drafts of the chapter that I had written. I'd write it, only to open the file the next day and find it absolutely empty.**

 **It legitimately made me want to cry.**

 **After adopting the habit of clicking the 'Save' icon 15 times every few sentences, and 15 more times before closing the file, I finally managed to get something written down... Only to have to axe the majority of it from the middle down as it was a disjointed, sloppily-written mess, put together as fast as possible in an attempt to get out fast updates.**

 **I decided to take more time to try to actually get something good out instead, which also contributed to this late upload.**

 **Now the chapter is finally out, and we can see how Issei is dealing with the entire situation revolving around him. We learnt a bit more about the origins of Succubi and Incubi, we got a glimpse into the Lilim family dynamics, and a few other thigns.**

 **I'd like to know what you thought about the chapter, if there are any doubts that I could answer without spoiling the plot, and any other type of general feedback that you could give me, all of those in the reviews, and, if needed, in PM's.**

 **Other than that, I'd like to announce the fact that I'm thinking of writing a coupleo Hero Academia (My Hero Academia) fanfictions, the premise of the first one being 'what would happen if Izuku took his desire to become a hero despite being quirkless more seriously from the very beggining', and the other one being 'what would happen if an Izuku that is almost the polar opposite of the canon one met with all might on the faithful slime attack day'.**

 **GIve me your thoughts, and... Yeah. Thanks for reading!**


	9. Philosophies and Reflections

**Hey! I'm back again, and you know what that means... Review Response Corner!**

 **Remzal Von Enili says: "Dude that sucks! There really should be a autoback-up feature you could toggle. Sorry that happened to you.**

 **I like the idea of your hero ideas.**

 **If I may toss something out?**

 **I always kept drawing a parallel between the boosted gear and one for all.**

 **I'm not saying give it to izuku but the idea of one for all having its own version of a juggernaut drive is an interesting one to me."**

 **A: I don't really see Izuku as the type of person to have a 'berserk' mode, y'know. Maybe if I end up writing the 'opposite Izuku' angle he'll have one, but the first option... Don't see that happening unless something very, very bad happens.**

 **Cerxer1 says: "I know that every story needs it's dark and serious moments, but lately it's been nothing but those, so is it going to get worse before it gets better ?"**

 **A: Pretty much. It's how shonen works, things get bad, everything rests on the shoulders of people who aren't even old enough to drink, drive or vote, add in a splash of inexperience, teenage hormones and drama, and you understand why the tone can shift so abruptly and so often from light to dark, and stay in dark for a long while. This, however, makes you even gladder when things go back to normal, in my opinion.**

 **MetaTR0N says: "Nice chapter with an interesting take on the origins of Succubi and Incubi. I am liking that the story has taken a serious turn. My only issue is that there are no canon characters introduced in the story until now and tbh I find it hard to care about OCs in any fanfiction. Keep up the good work.**

 **P.S. That situation with Eleanor reminded me of the beginning of The Rising Shield Hero. Were you inspired by it?"**

 **A: Canon characters will be introduced when Issei starts his enrolment in Kuoh, which is as soon as this arc ends, so you'll have to stick it out for a bit longer. About the Eleanor thing and The Rising Shield Hero, I have to say not really.**

 **I haven't read or watched it, but I have heard about the controversy surrounding it, and I believe that it's supremely moronic. It's a question of context, and framing the world. As far as I'm aware, the event in The Rising Shield Hero was pretty much a way of making the main character understand just how rotten the world is towards him, and the fact that he can trust pretty much no-one. It's about showing just how bad the world is to him.**

 **The context here is different. It's a case of a selfish, entitled person being unable to cope with a rejection, attempting instead to destroy the source of the rejection in order to soothe her wounded ego. If you notice in the third chapter, something similar occured between Issei and Lilith. Both naked, she offers, he refuses. Notice the difference in response. Lilith tries tempting him further, but when he turns her down, she backs down, because she has an understanding of boundaries and limits.**

 **Eleanor reacts by trying to first goad Issei into it, then she insults him to elicit a response. Issei doesn't react as she expects, so she decides to take what she wants by force, and threatens him. Issei responds by forcefully refusing her, so she throws a temper tantrum and prefers to 'destroy the toy she couldn't have'.**

 **TL;DR: No, I didn't base it on The Rising Shield Hero, and the context is different between the two, so you should look at them individualy.**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "so not going on the quest yet training more and getting stronger also very nice history lesson**

 **ise, as badass as it was, is slowly coming unhinged thats very bad why hasnt anyone interfered to help him**

 **he need to take a day or 2 break maybe have some limes with his teachers or a maid or something to decompress**

 **so there are more then one seed right? for each side or just the seed for both halves?**

 **also the history lesson explained lust but how did the other 6 get out?**

 **i think the first bnha story sounds cool especially if he gets ofa he be better trained more prepared and i love stronger izuku fics**

 **the second is hit or miss his character might be cool basically a non shy izuku strong personality maybe non herootaku (loss of that is loss of izuku main character trait) but how far does reverse izuku go is he still a good person it depends its a neat idea but id personally only read it if izuku still somehow got ofa from all might"**

 **A: No one interferred to help because Issei didn't ask for help. Nothing less, nothing more. The Seed has an equivalent on the side of the incubi, which will be learnt about later on. About the other 6 sins, I didn't explain this because it was irrelevant to the information that Laveria wanted to give Issei, but God extracted the essence of the other 6 sins and combined them into a single object, which became the Tree of Knowledge of Life and Death. The sins spread to humanity when Samael tricked Eve and Adam into eating the fruit from this tree.**

 **TheB says: "If it's only half, shouldn't there be two seeds; one with the Incubi?**

 **Man, after this is over, (little) Issei really deserves some relaxation."**

 **A: There is a counterpart to the succubus' seed. That's all I'm saying for now. And after this is all over, Issei is going to receive a bounty of unimagined proportions.**

 **renextronex says: "I only have 1 thing to say... who the fuck goes to Amsterdam and refuses to have sex? that was a hell of a cheap sidestep"**

 **A: Issei, apparently... It's more about the context, than the act itself.**

 **And that's the end of the Review Response Corner! Remeber, this corner is meant to respond to explicitly stated questions, or to statements that could be construed as questions, that are left in the reviews. If your comment did not show up, it's because it wasn't in the valid format to do so.**

 **Feel free to leave a question in this or any of the following chapters in the form of a review. With tht being said, it's story time.**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Wow... Is this how doing drugs feels like?"

Issei's question was based on the fact that he stood in an empty white void. Everything around him was white. Near, far and wide, everything was empty. No sky, no floor, nothing of the sort.

" _ **I have heard that Psychadelic and Psychotropic substances feel very much different from this, Hyoudou Issei.**_ "

Issei turned around at the sound of that voice, only to see Aquila in her human form looking him over, a curious look on her face. The Eagle of Victory floated closer to Issei, gripping his chin between her index and thumb before turning Issei's face to one side and the other, all with an inquisitive look on her face.

She then took a step back, floating around him as she looked him up and down, before speaking.

" _ **You have grown stronger much faster than I anticipated. That is very good. However...**_ "

She raised a single finger, electricity sparking on it's tip, before jabbing it into Issei's chest faster than he could follow, pushing him back somehwat and knocking the wind out of him.

Rubbing his sore chest, Issei glared at Aquila, but before he coil complain, a dark spot emerged over his heart, emmanating a black light.

" _ **As I expected...**_ "

"What? What did you expect?"

Seemingly ignoring Issei, Aquila started thinking out loud.

" _ **I never expected the link to progress as fast as it did... Perhaps the same thing that caused this allowed me to notice...**_ "

"What link? Notice what? What the hell are you talking about?"

Aquila turned back towards Issei, her tone serious as she spoke.

" _ **After the battle in the forest... You were dying. Your heart wasn't capable of coping with the stress of the high amount of power you were channeling, so it was stopping. In order to save your life, I had to inject a certain portion of my power into you in order to stimulate your heart to pump, and to sustain the rest of your body as you recovered.**_

 _ **It was supposed to be a transient state, with my power fading with use overtime, that left behind a small link between us that allowed me to know your location whenever you were not actively hiding yourself. I intended to check up on you periodically to see how much you progressed.**_

 _ **However, a weird interaction occured, an oddity of a high caliber. The power that I donated to you, it seeped into you deeper than I expected, and gave itself a physical indicator. I shrugged that off for the moment and sent you off before going my own way.**_

 _ **At first I believed that things were going as I expected, as I could feel your location at most times, however, more was happening than what I was intending. Your presence started becoming more pronounced within my senses. I could feel you with more certainty than I believed I would.**_

 _ **This feeling kept intensifiying as time went on, until I could feel your presence as if you were right next to me. Then, a few weeks after, something different happened.**_

 _ **The part of my mind dedicated to this connection between the two of us... Strengthened, for a lack of a better term. What was simply your presence progressed into what I felt were a foreign set of feelings, and emotions.**_ "

"Wait a second... I felt something like that too! When I was learning how to control a power of mine, I meditated and found these different powers in me. When I accessed this power that I wanted, I felt a burst of confusion and curiosity. They were feelings from the outside, yet they didn't feel invasive."

" _ **...It was indeed what I felt when our bond deepened. I was very curious about it, but I felt no attempts of invasion into my mind from your part, or even awareness of what had happened, so I decided to observe silently. I've been keeping track of your general emotions, and occasionally I even get the stray thought, which generally happened to be something related to libidinous activities... Until a short while ago.**_

 _ **Your feelings did a 180, and your happiness became something dark and bitter. This started as a small, infamous part of you, but it's been growing over time. I am very curious. What led you to these emotional extremes, Hyoudou Issei?**_ "

Issei was ready to force on a smile and deflect as he would usually do, only for a burst of inquisitive curiosity to slam into him, originating from Quila. It didn't feel as if she had an opinion this way or another, or that she would try to console him and tell him everything would be alright, she simply wished to listen.

Pushing off his first reflex, Issei buckled down and told Aquila about every event so far, from learning that he would be unable to go back to his previous life, to being accused of assaulting Eleanor.

Through all of the explanation, Aquila just listened patiently, a sense of deliberation flowing from her.

Unloading all of this for the first time since the events of his new type of life left Issei tired and emotionally drained, causing him to all but wilt into himself, his shoulders slumping dejectedly, while Aquila kept thinking.

" _ **Well... One cannot say your life is uneventful. I believed that your encounter with danger as far as Stheno and Midgardsomr went would be a one-off, but to have your girlfriend kidnapped right in front of you by some douche with heavy backing... I understand why you feel like that.**_ "

A sardonic smile blossoming on his face, Issei spoke in a self-deprecating tone.

"Isn't this the moment where you tell me none of it was my fault, and that eveyrhting is going to go back to normal, and be alright, and all that garbage?"

" _ **No, because I am not in the habit of lying to people. I will not say that the events were entirely your fault, but some fault you do indeed have in them. You chose to use the attack that debilitated your hand. You allowed yourself and your girlfriend to engage in combat on your lonesome against enemies you were unsure you could defeat. You allowed yourself to lose track of an ally you knew was objectively weaker than you. And then you allowed yourself to be distracted by the interferance of others, and reacted much too late to stop your girlfriend's kidnapping.**_

 _ **Those are facts, and you need to acknowledge them. However.**_

 _ **It is also a fact that her captor wishes to use her as a bargaining chip for this Seed thing, which means she is likely alive, if not whole. You have been growing in strength in leaps and bounds beyond anything you ever expected, which means that you could possibly defeat the enemy in case of further conflict. A team of specialists is working on determining the location where your girlfriend is being held; and you are staying with some of the magical world's best healers, being close to the person who has access to a library full of knowledge that may be lost to the rest of the world about the magical arts, which means that you could find some way to heal your hand.**_

 _ **Just because things are bad right now, and because they changed, does not mean they cannot become good again, perhaps even better than before. Allowing yourself to sink into a sea of despair does you no favors, making things harder on yourself, as negative emotions tend to cloud one's judgement.**_

 _ **There is a philosophy called stoicism, that claims that life is split into two parts, events that you have control over, and events that you do not have control over.**_

 _ **A strong person is the one that focuses not on what they cannot control, but instead prioritizes the events that they are capable of impacting. However, there is another layer to this. You may be unable to control some events, but you can, however, control your reaction and response to them, ultimately controlling how they impact you, and their consequences upon you as an individual.**_

 _ **Remember this, Hyoudou Issei. It is a very worthwhile life lesson, and one that many would have done better to have learnt earlier.**_ "

The white void that Issei and Aquila were in shook and trembled, prompting the two to look upwards and to witness a few cracks in the sky.

"What's happening?"

" _ **I believe that our direct psychic connection is fracturing as the two of us return to consciousness.**_ "

The cracks started spreading throughout the entire void, as if someone were consistently smashing a sledgehammer into reinforced glass, all the while Issei and Aquila watched. Right before the void shattered into a million pieces, Aquila spoke to Issei.

" _ **I believe you to be a stronger man than most, Hyoudou Issei; worthy of being a true Roman. I expect you to overcome any hurdle and obstacle.**_

 _ **And remember, I will be watching you.**_ "

With those as the parting words, the world around them broke into a million shards, replaced by a flash of color, before Issei found himself sitting up in bed, not even having noticed when he first woke up and sat up.

His forehead was covered in sweat, as was his naked torso, and he could see the Eagle tattoo on his bicep glowing a bright yellow for an instant, a feeling of acknowledgement flowing into him, before the light dimmed, then vanished, alongside the foreign emotion that it had been conveying.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Roaming around the castle in the middle of the night, when the usual activity of the maids and servants was completely absent, was a novel feeling for Issei. Something he had never thought to do before.

' _I haven't really explored the castle properly ever since I arrived. It's always been studying, training... And spending time with Lilith, before. Now... It's more training than anything else... I need to stop pushing myself into those activities to run away from my thoughts. I need... A break._ '

By now Issei was outside the castle, in one of the gardens.

Shirtless and barefoot, he allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of the grass blades tickling at the soles of his feet and between his toes, while a nighttime breeze ruffled his hair.

Wandering aimlessly, Issei soon found himself in front of a lake, the water clearly reflecting the full moon in the night sky.

He sat by the lake indian-style, before allowing his right hand to dip into the water. He wiggled his fingers, allowing the reflected image of himself to waver and distort.

Sitting straight up, Issei decided to do something that he remembers having only done once before, when he first gined control over his Tantric Energy.

He placed both of his hands on top of his thighs in a comfortable position, closing his eyes before taking deep breaths.

 **In.**

 **Out.**

 **In.**

 **Out.**

 **In.**

 **Out.**

Soon enough, his body went into autopilot as his consciousness turned inwards, deep within himself, as Issei fell into a meditative state.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Oh... So this is how my... spirit... looks like at the moment..."

Issei's eyes were wide in surprise, watching as a tornado raged in the distance, a massive formation of clouds blotting out the light, illuminating the area he was on in a reddish glow with every crackle of lightning that occured within them.

He looked down, noticing that there was no ground underneath him, similar to how it looked like when he connected to Aquila, however there were black veins crawling from the distance, spreading slowly towards where he stood.

" **Indeed.** "

Issei turned around, being surprised by what came into view.

A massive red dragon, with green eyes each as big as Issei himself, stood across from the brunette.

"Ddraig?"

The brunette looked around, finding surprise in the fact that the previous chaos had vanished completely, replaced by a world of fire. Flames burned everywhere the eye could see. It was as if the world itself was made of fire.

And yet... They did not hurt. No sting, no burn, no horrifying carbonization that one would expect from being in a world of fire. Scattered amongst the mostly red and green flames, however, Issei could make out patches of orange flames, with yellow sparks within and surrounding them, and indigo flames, with a deep-purple core.

"Is this... How the _**Boosted Gear**_ looks like from the inside?"

" **Indeed. Well, mostly. Normally it's only red and green fire, the other colors are a new feature, something altogether new.** "

"Huh... So, why did you bring me in here?"

Ddraig moved his forelimbs in a manner reminiscent of a shrug as he answered.

" **Felt like it.** **Do dragons really need reasons to do whatever it is they choose to do?** "

Sweatdropping, Issei responded.

"I guess not..."

The two lapsed into a silence, before Issei spoke up.

"Hey Ddraig... Did you ever feel... Angry, or sad, frustrated or something like that?"

Scratching at his... Chin?... The dragon responded.

" **Angry, yes. Sad... Mhm... Frustrated, less before, but more and more ever since you became the host.** "

Issei sweatdropped further at that, while Ddraig kept speaking.

" **So, yes, it's fair to say that I've felt a lot of stuff like that over time.** "

"How did you deal with it?"

" **Blow shit up.** "

Issei gave Ddraig a deadpan look at the instantaneous response, prompting the dragon to shrug again - somehow - before he kept speaking.

" **Blowing stuff up is a passtime of mine, something that brings me great enjoyment. Back when I was free, whenever I was not feeling enjoyment, I was out blowing stuff up. Mountains, forests, lakes, Dragon Hunters, other dragons that tried to move into my turf... It was just sheer dumb fun, y'know. Now that I'm trapped here in this sacred gear, I derive my fun from the memories of me blowing stuff up, alongside with the few times during which I watch you blowing stuff up. Those things really help me get over how much you aggravate me with your perverted antics, instead of preparing for the fight with him...**

 **But that's beside the point! What's important is that whenever I feel bad, I either do something I enjoy, or I remember the times I did stuff that I enjoyed.** "

"Okay, first of all, you'll eventually have to tell me more about this fight you keep alluding to. Second of all, is it really that easy? Can you get over bad feelings by doing stuff that you like? I mean... Usually, when you're feeling down, even the stuff that you like to do seems a bit... pointless. And not-fun."

" **That's just your stupid human mind overthinking things. Just because something bad is happening, doesn't mean that the good stuff stops feeling good, or that you stop liking what you like. Those are two totally different things.**

 **You humans, however, have a pretty nasty habit which is to worry too much about stuff that they have no control over, like the future. Instead of focusing on the future, us dragons live our lives in the moment, doing what we want, when we want. It's one of the myriad of reasons why dragons are better than every other existing lifeform.** "

Sweatdropping at the smugness in Ddraig's voice, Issei spoke up.

"You _Do_ remember that doing stuff that you liked when you liked got you sealed in the _**Boosted Gear**_ in the first place, right?"

Sputtering lightly, Ddraig answered.

" **T-that doesn't have anything to do with anything! Dragons still rule!** "

"Sure, sure."

Issei chuckled lightly, his closed eyes causing him to miss the upward twitch in the corner of Ddraig's mouth. Having accomplished what he intended to, the dragon schooled his expression before returning to his usual tone.

" **Welp, my interest in you has reached zero for the moment, and it'll take a while for it to build up again properly, moreso with your annoying and perverted antics, so now I'm kicking you out of my place.** "

With those parting words, Issei found his eyes opening, giving him a surprising view of the sun rising over the horizon, the first rays of light reflecting beautifully off the lake, prompting him to smile genuinely for the first time in a long while.

Making his way back to his feet, Issei stretched out the various kinks and aches that his body had built up by spending a few hours in the same position, scratching his butt as he made his way back to the castle, actually walking instead of skulking or stalking around, and with his face in the usual smile, instead of the neutral frown that had become norm.

The brunette completely missed the figure of Laveria that had been watching him from one of the higher windows of the castle, whose worried face changed into a soft smile of her own as she noticed his mood shift.

' _It seems he's recovered somewhat... It probably isn't a full recovery, people don't get better spontaneously like that, but it's a start. Perhaps he will be ready for the Seed sooner than I expected him to..._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

Breakfast that day was an awkward affair.

For slmody everyone except Issei, that is.

The same people that were all but condemning him with their looks, believing in Eleanor's lie, were expecting him to either be glacial in his treatment of them, to use every possible opportunity to jab at them and rub their face in it. They expected to deal with the same cool, indifferent Issei from before, except this time he'd have a bone to pick with them.

Instead, Issei seemed to be the most cheerful that they saw him before, while the in-house people that had known Issei ever since he first arrived to Luxuria were all pleased with the fact that he had returned to normal.

The brunette himself seemed to be unaware of the tension in the room, his focus split between eating his breakfast, and trading looks with Bernice, who took the opportunity to entice Issei into a repeat performance of their last dalliance.

It seemed to be working somewhat as Issei's tongue all but hung out of his mouth, a blush coloring his cheeks and perverted chuckles emerging from his throat.

Laveria, seemingly one of the only few not weighed down by the awkwardness that pervaded the room, spoke up.

"Xinthia told me she has new plans with regards to your training, Issei."

The brunette shook his head, his focus shifting from Bernice to Laveria - causing the perverted instructor to pout - before speaking up.

"Did she say what it was about?"

The queen responded by smiling enigmatically towards Issei, causing him to groan at the non-answer, before speaking up again.

"She's expecting you at the usual place right after breakfast."

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei halted from his run in front of Xinthia after having finished warming up, a few light beads of sweat being the only evidence of the effort. Stretching his body in order to loosen his muscles, the brunette adressed his trainer.

"Laveria said that you had something for me to work on?"

"Indeed. From now on, we'll be working on your fighting prowess."

"...What do you mean? I thought this was all we did, day in and day out."

Scoffing, the succubus responded.

"We've been working on honing your instincts and reflexes for combat situations, alongside building up your physical capabilities and magical control and variety. All of those things are great, and a good baseline for any good fighting style, but that's not all.

So far, you've been fighingt in a... Let's say fresstyle... manner, with no set technique. You have the discernment to know when to attack, when to defend, when to dodge and when to parry, but you tend to be hyperfocused on the individual directly in front of you, possibly giving away any environmental advantages that you could have noticed, missing any traps that were laid for you, and allowing other important events to pass by your perception without you noticing, such as having additional enemies joining the battlefield.

Other than that, there's the fact that you can't throw a punch for shit. Your strikes have absolutely no technique behind them. Do not misunderstand me, I do not intend to teach you a martial art per se, since it would probably not mesh with your disorganized, spontaneous fighting style.

Instead I will teach you the best ways to optimize the strength and speed that your body possesses, and to properly apply it when you perform physical activities, from throwing a punch, to swimming a lap. You will learn proper positioning, footwork, breathing techniques, and everything inbetween.

I also believe that your hand-to-hand arsenal is much too limited, being based primarily on strikes with your fists and feet. You rarely utilize your kness and elbows, which are extremely useful especially at short ranges, and you have no throws, holds or locks.

I will teach you the basics of all of those things and impart combat awareness into you. From then on, you'll be tasked with arranging all of those basics into a functional style that best suits you. Any questions?"

Ignoring Issei's raised hand and open mouth, Xinthia spoke.

"Good. Now... DODGE!"

"GAH!"

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

Issei winced with each step he took, a light limp on his left leg, while his left arm hung limply to his side, everything on it from the elbow up covered in ugly, dark-purple bruises.

One of his eyes was mildly swollen, his cheeks had fist-marks on them, and his lower lip had split. However, despite all of this, Issei's mood still hadn't fallen. Whenever the dark feelings tried coming, Issei just focused on his perversions, and those feelings were easily dispersed. Not buried as they were before, but instead replaced with the satisfaction that Issei derived from his perversion.

"Oh my! Issei, you look terrible!"

The brunette turned around in surprise at call, noticing a worried Bernice walking towards him before taking hold of his right arm, dragging him into a white room reminiscent of a nurse's office.

"Take off your shirt."

The brunette, battered and in pain, didn't even bat an eye at that order, thoughts of perversion pushed aside by his various throbbing swells, none of them of the fun persuasion.

Bernice placed her hands over Issei's left shoulder, a purple glow emitting from them as the brunette felt the pain and swelling reducing. She moved her hands across his entire upper body, relieving the majority of the damage that he had taken and leaving him at a functional state, before doing the same to his face, fixing his busted lip and black eye.

The brunette hopped from his seat, a massive smile on his face as he spoke.

"I don't feel like hamburger anymore! Thanks, Bernice!"

He collected his shed shirt with the intent to leave, only for a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his neck to stop him, a pair of lips all but kissing his ear as Bernice spoke.

"We aren't done yet, Issei. A doctor is supposed to examine her patient... _Thoroughly~_ "

The brunette shivered at that, before a pair of lips kissed his neck, and a pair of hands started fiddling with his belt.

 _ **~30 minutes later~**_

"Thanks, Miss Bernice. I really needed that!"

Said succubus responded by groaning incoherently from her spot on the ground. Her wings, horns and tail were splayed around her, as was her hair around her head. Her eyes were half-lidded, twitching and rolling within their orbits, while her tongue hung out of her mouth. Her nostrils were smudged with bits of white goo, as was the rest of her face in general, and some of her hair.

Her skirt was absolutely drenched, as were her socks and shoes, with a massive puddle underneath her.

Ignoring the fact that he had thoratfucked her into the point of incoherence, Issei all but skipped the rest of the way to his room, ignoring the way that the scent of sex exuding from him had the maids that he moved past stop in their actions, focusing completely on him and eyeing him hungrily.

His door wasn't even halfway shut before he started stripping, before all but vanishing into his bathtub, enjoying the soothing feel of warm water on his muscles, batting around the bubbles with his right hand.

He just took that time to enjoy himself, temporarily forgetting his earthly issues, and focusing on philosophy, pondering upon the deeper mysteries of the universe, and existence.

' _...How big is God's rack? Like, God is universally good, and boobs are good, so it only makes sense that God has boobs, that's an indisputable fact. But, just how big are they? Could God bear a rack so huge that their back wouldn't be able to support it? Did the 6th volume of 'Paippo the Oppai Hero' hit store shelves already?_ '

Issei spent literal hours thinking of such things, only leaving the bathtub once the water had gone cold, and his skin wrinkled like an old prune.

He dressed himself in the usual outfit of a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, the cast back over his _**Boosted Gear**_ in order to disguise it as normal.

Having nothing better to do at the moment, and not intent of exercising further lest he burned himself out mentally again, Issei decided to wander around.

He jumped out of his room's open window, clambering up onto a proper ledge before using it to jump higher and higher, reaching the actual roof of the massive castle, before casting his sight out into the distance.

"Whoa."

The sight that met him was... Awe-inspiring. The sun was setting in the horizon, it's dying rays illuminating the entirety of the nation within his sight, from parts of the castle itself, all the way to the outter walls of Luxuria, a sight that Issei could only percieve due to his empowered state.

Watching the way the light shifted and bounced off of the various rooftops and ceilings, the way that shadows writhed and shifted as the sun sunk more and more, watching the coloration of the country itself change as if a myriad of photography filters were being cycled in some sort of a fast-paced slideshow... It was just awe-inspiring.

"Very impressive, no?"

The brunette did a 180 in order to face the source of the voice that had managed to sneak up on him and bypass his senses completely, his left arm already rising, before his brain managed to recognize the owner of the voice.

"Jesus Christ, Laveria, you scared me worse than a Health and Safety inspection in the set of a porn film would scare the producers!"

The Luxurian queen smirked at that, having purposefully hidden her presence in order to startle the young man, before speaking up.

"It is good to occasionally remind people that I could sneak into their rooms and slit their throat in their sleep without anyone ever noticing. Makes them less likely to try to deceive me."

Sweatdropping, the brunette laughed awkwardly, before responding.

"Riiiiiiiight..."

Turning back around to look at the nation of Luxuria, Issei decided to appreciate the differences between it and his home city of Kuoh. Kuoh, while seemingly more westernized than many of the other japanese cities due to it's abundance of western-styled buildings, from houses to schools, offices and even public buildings, to even the distribution and disposition of said buildings, still retained a certain... Feel. A feel that could simply be associated to the word 'Japan'.

Could it have something to do with the supernatural? Did japan have an active supernatural comunity? Or was it all simply his homesickness, and his awareness of the fact that he couldn't return speaking?

Issei's previous mood started shifting to sad, pensive and instrospective, something that Laveria noticed, which prompted her to speak.

"I absolutely adore this view. I have felt like this ever since I was a young girl, sneaking away from my boring lessons in nobility and such to climb up things and pull all sorts of trouble, enough to give my mother no shortage of headaches.

At first, I enjoyed the view simply from an aesthetic perspective. It is a very pretty view. However, as I grew older and started learning about the world and how it worked, I started enjoying it from a different perspective.

Having to fight in a war, watching, and participating, in large-scale acts of bloodshed, death and gore... It is horrible, and while at first it made me resentful of the people who got to live their entire lives living in peace, unaware of the existence of war as nothing other than an abstract 'bad thing' that is happening far away from them... Over time, this sight invigorated me. It helped me get through the harder times, the ones where I felt as if I would not be able to carry the burdens that had been placed onto my shoulders.

Knowing that I was fighting for the safety and protection of these innocent people, people who were one day as idealistic and naive as I once was, to ensure that they never had to go through what I did, see what I saw and understand the true cruelties of life... It gave me the drive to keep fighting, and not just literally.

Having this peaceful sight within view every time I visited home, it filled me with a longing and desire for peace. It was hidden, buried under the image of the royal heiress I projected, the one who fought the people's battles, that dutifully obeyed her queen, served the people and led her nation's army to victory, but it was there.

It would be lying to say that it was not a factor in my decision to simply stop the war against Bauxis during my battle with Phillip.

That peaceful sight... I desired to make it a constant, to ensure that you women did not have to grow up in peace, only to be picked up by the army and sent out to fight, bleed and die. It was my long-term goal. It led to infighting, and a civil war, but ultimately, after all the fighting, bleeding and dying, I got what I wished for.

Peace and prosperity for my people.

However, it was a bitter victory. It was a victory built upon the blood and bones of hundreds of thousands. It is a victory that would forever be tainted to me. So I decided to create something new. A result of love and unity, not of war and death.

I found a man that I loved, and I gave birth to my beautiful baby, Lilith. Things were troublesome on his side of the family, and it did not end well for me and him, but... I succeeded in giving birth to something not tainted by blood and war.

My baby girl... She is the one most important to me. I wish that I could go save her myself... However, I cannot. If I were to abandon my nation, a responsibility that I took out of my own desire, I am afraid that not only would I condemn millions to anarchy and death, but I would also lose my daughter. Any respect she has for me would evaporate, leaving behind only disappointment. And if she believed that she was the reason for me abandoning my post, it would be disappointment mixed with resentment, self-loathing and hate.

However, no matter how much I try to rationalize it, what I am doing is still ultimately wrong. I'm pushing you towards the same path that I once followed, creating peace through violence and blood. Perhaps it will make you grow to hate, or resent those that get to live normally. And yet, I would not change a thing if it ensured that my baby girl made it back safe and sound.

How selfish of me, no?"

Sitting down on the edge of the rooftop, Issei took the time to think things through, his right hand scratching his chin as he did. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Do you enjoy the consequences of your past actions? Do you find them worth the effort?"

"I do."

"If you could go back and change things, would you have?"

"Never."

"I see... Then you don't regret what you did, but instead you regret _why_ you did it. You said it yourself, you wanted peace, yet you fought an entire war using your 'responsibilities' as both motivation... And as a shield, an excuse to keep you from actually trying to find peace, in the way that you ultimately did. That's why you feel bad about what you did, and why the achievement you feel the proudest of is having given birth to, and raised Lilith.

She's a product of your own actions, taken for all of the right reasons, with no false pretenses.

And that's also why you shouldn't feel guilty about asking me to save Lilith. Remember, I am choosing to do this. And unlike you, I'm not doing this out of some sense of responsibility, or heroism, or because it's the right thing to do.

I'm doing it only because I want to. No bullshit, excuses or justifications needed. I want to save Lilith, so I will, even if I have to bleed and suffer on the way. And when I do end up saving her, I won't regret the steps that I had to take in order to do so, as it would be the same as saying that saving her wasn't worth the effort."

The sun had finished setting as Issei started speaking, taking away with it the warmth and light of it's rays. In it's place rose the moon. Large and bright, hanging boldly in the skies in a contrast to the darkness of the universe, the moon shed light upon the world while the sun took it's well-deserved rest, showing people that even when things looked the bleakest, there was always a light in the dark, a beacon of hope.

No clouds could cover it, and no star could overpower it. From where Laveria stood, moonbeams fell over Issei as if illuminating him and him alone, showing her the one bright path in this dark occasion for herself.

Not noticing this, the brunette continued.

"This is something that I learnt in the same day that I faced an Ultimate-class being. You do what you want to do, because you want to do it. That way there are only two results, either you succeed in what you wished to do, or you die knowing that you did what you wanted, trying to achieve what you desired, and I'd rather that than live a live of bitterness and regret. So don't worry.

I'll save our Lilith."

In that specific moment, looking at Issei's illuminated back, Laveria could have sworn she saw the outline of a certain man in Issei's place.

She blinked in surprise, only for the moment to pass, however the image itself, and the feelings that it elicited burned themselves into her memory.

A honest smile blossomed on Laveria's face, centuries of stress and pressure being completely absent in her words when she spoke.

"I know you will, Issei. And thank you."

The brunette responded by raising his right hand into the air in a closed fist indicating a victory, drawing a chuckle from the queen before she walked away, any guilt that she felt over placing such a large burden upon Issei completely absent, washed away by his determination and his confidence.

' _Just a few days ago he was sulking and down in the dumps, but all of a sudden he's giving me inspirational speeches?... Hyoudou Issei, do you ever cease to surprise?..._ '

While Laveria made her way back into the castle, Issei's gaze flowed over the moonlit nation, while he thought his conversation with Laveria over.

' _I said all of those words in the spur of the moment, but... They're what it felt right to say. I don't regret saying them. And neither do I regret anything that I did so far. I'll keep doing what I want, and what makes me happy. I'll get stronger, I'll rescue Lilith... And I'll definitely get to enjoy the peace and happiness that I had back in Kuoh, with my family, and my friends. I swear it on all the Oppai in the world._ '

 _ **~?~**_

' _ **Hyoudou Issei... Every time I check up on you, you surprise me further. I am very impressed with your determination.**_ '

Aquila stopped focusing on the connection that Issei was subconsciously creating with her in his emotionally charged moment, causing the world around her to shift from a first person perspective of Issei as he spoke, back to an empty, white void.

' _ **Never since Marcus Aurelius did I expect to find another so worthy of the title of True Roman. Keep impressing me as you have, Issei, and you may find yourself surprised...**_ '

The psychic avatar of the Eagle of Victory gradually disappeared from the void it was in as Aquila's mind returned to her own body, her head full of various thoughts and ideas revolving solely around one Hyoudou Issei.

 _ **~Chapter, End!~**_

 **Holy crap this one took a while to write! I just couldn't get what I wanted out of it with the previous things that I wrote! You guys have no idea how many times I had to stop mid-writing, dissatisfied with what I had so far, only to wipe it all out and start anew.**

 **I'm happy with what I wrote now though, so you guys get to read it. Prepare for the next chapter, which is when stuff starts going down again, and the plot advances! Until next time, my friends!**


	10. Hired Guns, Blood and Jackie and Hylda

**Hey all, it's me, the dude you already know from all the previous chapters! Usually this would be the part where I respond to reviews, but this time reviews were either criticisms (** _ **both positive and negative**_ **), assertions, or questions that either have already answered themselves, or ones that answering would spoil the plot further.**

 **With that being said, we'll be hopping directly into the story!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"HAH!"

Issei dashed forward, planting his left foot in front of him hard, pushing up from his knees, twisting his waist and rolling his shoulder as he threw out a punch with his right hand. Xinthia barely managed to parry Issei's punch, causing it to graze her cheek and leave behind a small gash from the power within it.

She readied her feet to respond with a vertical kick, only for Issei's arm to wrap around the back of her neck, his right hand locking together with his gauntleted one and pulling Xinthia's upper body downwards while his own upper body rose in a short hop, his right knee extended to slam into her face.

Xinthia crossed her arms in front of her face, blocking Issei's knee before pushing it down hard, unbalacing the airborne brunette. She followed up on it by gripping one of his ankles, spinning him around before slamming him onto the ground, cratering it and causing Issei to cough out small flecks of blood.

The brunette responded by releasing a surge of electricity, forcing Xinthia to release him and hop back a few paces, before jumping back to his feet.

Issei instantly dashed towards his trainer, intending to shift the momentum of the fight to his advantage, aiming a hook towards her face, which Xinthia dodged. Gritting his teeth, Issei shifted the follow-through of his move into an elbow strike, hitting Xinthia on the temple and dazing her.

Taking advantage of this, Issei slid underneath her, taking hold of both her legs before lifting her off the ground, then slamming her onto it, creating a small crater underneath them, before mounting himself above her, his legs spreading hers to make her incapable of gaining purchase to swing him off of her.

Taking advantage of his position, Issei rained various punches onto Xinthia, most of them being blocked, others dodged. He was surprised, however, when she managed to lock one of his arms to the side of her head, forcing him to lean forward to keep it from breaking. Before he could raise his left hand to strike at her vulnerable face, Issei felt a pair of legs wrapping around his neck in a position that denoted an absurd level of flexibility, before they pulled back, trying to force him away from Xinthia.

Feeling the legs tugging him in the opposite direction of his arm, Issei reacted by leaning his body to the same side as his arm was trapped on, forcing Xinthia's body to turn to it's side, but before he could break free from the precarious position he was in, he was surprised by Xinthia using her free arm to give herself enough momentum to get them both into a roll, which resulted in her landing with her back to the ground, with Issei above her and on his back as well, her arms wrapped around his throat in a chokehold, which was supported by her legs being wrapped around his waist.

Issei struggled, trying his best to break free from Xinthia's tight grip, throwing various elbow blows to her side, yet the succubus did not ease up on her grip, tightening it instead. Feeling himself on the edge of losing his consciousness, Issei was forced to tap out, gasping for air as soon as his airways were unobstructed, while Xinthia rubbed at her bruised ribs, somewhat regretting making Issei aware of the viability of his elbows.

"You've improved again, maggot. That being said, you still did something pretty stupid. Can you tell me what that was?"

"...I engaged you in grappling, when my grappling is much weaker than my ability to fight on my feet."

"Good. You know how you fucked up. Now, how do you change that?"

"Do my best to keep the fight on my terms, set the pace of the battle to something that the opponent is hard-pressed to match, and either improve my grappling to the same level as my regular fighting, or find some way to bridge the gap between the two ways of fighting."

"...If all of my recruits were capable of thinking like this even after getting their asses kicked, instead of spending their time moaning about 'excessive use of force' and trying to make excuses for their own weaknesses, I would be a happy woman. That being said, be aware that you still suck. Less than before, but still.

Now get your ass out of my training field, I don't want to see you here until tomorrow."

"Hai, hai~"

Saying that, Issei left for the castle, rubbing at his slightly sore throat and rolling his stressed right shoulder.

' _Jesus Christ, that woman does not know the meaning of mercy!_ '

Once again, Issei made the path back to his bedroom, showered and had a change of clothes, before heading to the dining room.

He entered the dining room expecting to find a table groaning with food as was the norm, but instead he found Laveria sitting there in full Queen mode, a green-eyed blonde-haired succubus, her age somewhere in the range of 'Absolute MILF', sitting across from her, with a variety of books and other sheafs of paper covering the table.

Blinking owlishly, the brunette spoke up.

"Is this a bad time? Because if it is, I'll just come back later..."

Turning her focus to Issei, Laveria spoke up.

"No, Issei, I was just about to send for you, so it is very fortunate that you came when you did."

Her hand opened, indicating the green-haired succubus as she spoke.

"This is Jade. She is the head of my information department, both for the fact that she developed an extremely aptitude for investigation and information management during her training in the Luxurian Military, and because she is currently the only Succubus alive with the gift of Psychokinesis, the ability to 'read' an object in the same manner someone gifted with telepathy can read a person."

Jade nodded towards Issei in greeting, with her unusually sharp gaze causing the brunette to feel as if he were being weighed down to his soul, before Laveria resumed.

"Jade is the person in charge of investigating Lilith's kidnapping and her current whereabouts."

She looked at Jade, before speaking.

"Tell him what you told me, Jade."

The woman nodded, a minimallistic action with no wasted motions or energy, before speaking up. Her tone was concise and explanatory, the tone one would expect from a high-ranking soldier such as herself.

"My team was sent to Bauxis to investigate everything related to the then-prince Travis Laucia, and to ensure that there was no possibility of his actions being a conspiracy from the Bauxian crown in order to ensure some sort of superior bargaining position over Luxuria.

We investigated the entirety of the Bauxian castle, with a special focus on the areas that the perpetrator frequented the most, these being the Royal Library, his quarters and a specific clearing within the castle's grounds.

The clearing showed signs of high-powered magic usage on an intermittent basis, and some some magical residue relating to coordenates or a location were detected, which makes it likely that that area was used for transportation spells, but leaves communication ones as a possibility as well. The magic residue had degraded for the most part, leaving behind only fragments of the initial information, fragments that were sent to analysis to work on.

The library was investigated with the aid of both the Custodian and the Royal Historian, and they reported the fact that a more than a few books were missing, books related to the history of Incubi, the history of Succubi, the combined origins of both species, and some lust-related spells and rituals.

We went to investigate his quarters, but most of it had been trashed by one of their maids under the effects of mind-control magic. She managed to destroy most of what was there, but a few journals were still half-usable, as were schematics and a few coded messages that our cryptography department worked on.

The messages, while able to tell us that there was a third party helping the perpetrator with his plans via money and literary materials, tells us nothing about their identity. However, through the use of my gift and the concentrated efforts of our investigation department, we managed to ascertain the location that the transport magic was used to and from.

It's located in Hungary, in a forest that is far away from any inhabited areas. Based on the schematics, we believe it to be an old castle belonging to a cult dedicated to the worship of **Hadak Ura** , the war god of native Hungarian folklore, which is believed to have been exterminated by Vatican-sent exorcists when Christianity first made itself present in Hungary, though the Vatican denies these claims to this day.

This castle seems to have been modernized somewhat, with the adittion of electricity and satellite comunication access, based on what my gift got from the schematics. The security will likely be a mix of high-tech measures such as security cameras and motion sensors, and magical barriers and wards. The castle is at least 10 to 13 stories tall, and has an underground area, though I was unable to divine it's usage, no matter how much I tried to."

Issei's lighthearted mood changed instantly into a deadly serious one as he looked at Laveria.

"When am I leaving?"

 _ **~oOo~**_

Pulling a pair of binoculars on, Issei watched his goal, his left hand holding a piece of paper with a magical formula inscribed onto it, while remembering Laveria's explanations.

 _ **~A few hours earlier~**_

 _"Transporting you into the compound would be all but impossible as it is more than likely that wards have been erected to avoid something of the sort. The fact that a natural leyline runs underneath that area means that an absurd amount of magic would be required to even put a dent on their wards, which means that us attempting to bruteforce you in would result in an exploding magical circle, and with you in hundreds of thousands of pieces._

 _The preliminary plan is for you to land a few klicks away from the mission area itself and plant a few high-powered explosive formulas."_

 _Laveria twirled her wrist, causing something akin to a 3d projection of the area to appear above the table, with the compound itself being for the most part a black blot due to the lack of information. She stretched her hand, pointing at a few spots of the area, before speaking up._

 _"You're to set up as many tags as possible on these red points, all of them around the south-southeast area from the castle, before circling over to the opposite side. Once there, you are to detonate all of them as both a distraction from your presence, a way to draw some of their people, making your insertion less difficult, and to weaken their security system, as the residual magic is to be released in the form of electromagnetic inferference, ensuring that their electronics will have at least a window of inactivity._

 _ **~Now~**_

Nodding to himself, the brunette sent a small pulse of magic into the 'detonator', his eyes widening in surprise at the massively loud **BOOM** that he heard from the opposite side of where he was, alongside with the fact that tremors followed even as far as he was.

Looking up, Issei noticed the fact that all of the lights in the castle suddenly turned off, and the massive cloud of smoke in the distance. From the elevated position that he had taken, he could also see many 'men', most of them possessing at least one or two visibly inhuman traits, running towards the source of the noise, armed with weapons ranging from knuckle dusters, swords and spears, all the way to pistols and assault rifles.

He could also notice the fact that they had to open an electronic gate by hand despite the fact that a few of the lamps had turned back on, meaning that they probably were working on some sort of emergency generators, which still meant that everything that was turned on when the explosion first occured was dead, including security cameras.

Storing his binoculars into his backpack, Issei slid down the massive tree that he had perched upon before dashing through the thick and heavy folliage, making his way closer and closer to the target site while staying outside of view of the few sentries he noticed positioned in improvised wooden towers, holding bows and scoped rifles.

Slowing down, Issei crouched, trying his best not to upset the large leaves of the pants around him to give even less of a warning despite the fact that his infiltration was being performed during the night time, before crawling ever slowly towards the compound.

A good 45 minutes later he was forced to halt mid-step as he felt a tag in his back pocket vibrating, reminding him of the next part of the infiltration plan.

 _ **~Earlier~**_

 _"The initial explosion will more than likely knock out any eletronic-based security, but you still need to deal with wards, both those centered solely on detection and alarm, and those that simply fry anything unidentified as soon as they cross within range._ "

 _Grabbing a stack of hand-sized papers with a massive amount of overly complicated geometric patterns inscribed on it, Laveria spoke._

 _"That is why you will use these. These are called 'Taps', and they function by siphoning the magical power present in an object or area and re-purposing into the task that they are programmed to perform. Most of the time these are used to remove harmful magics from objects that you wish to make usable, or to eliminate wards from a zone that one intends to vacate, but you will be using them to make a hole in the enemy's wards for you to slip through._

 _However, wardlines are generally made to be as difficult to detect as possible to avoid breaches. Entire sections of the formulae behind them are made with the intent to disguise the 'goal' of the magic being used, so that way of detection is out._

 _However, a workaround has been designed. Instead of focusing on function, this formula detects on area as a parameter, allowing you to know when you approach any sort of magic based on a specific amount of space by vibrating."_

 _ **~Now~**_

Taking a step back, Issei reached into one of the outter pockets of his backpack, pulling a handful of pieces of paper. He set seven of them in a straight line before pushing a thread of magic into them, watching as images akin to circuit lines strated crawling from the papers, along the ground before crawling up wat seemed to be empty air. A few seconds afterwards, the circuit lines made a small arch that Issei could easily move through, before the air around said arch gained a bluish tint, revealing that the ward was sloped in what seemed to be a dome.

Shouldering his pack, Issei walked through the Arch without touching any of the papers he had set out, and once inside the wardline he watched the papers starting to burn themselves out from the excessive amount of magic flowing through them, causing the blue to rush back into that space, closing the ward.

Noticing the fact that he wasn't immediately called out, fried or sniped, Issei found it fair to assume that he bypassed the wards successfully, and crawled closer and closer to the castle, always mantaining the cover of the plantlife around him.

Looking up, Issei noticed the fact that there were two sentries periodically giving the area he was in sweeping looks, while the others had their own assigned zones.

' _How do I get past the two of them without being seen?... Hmm, how about..._ '

He picked up a small rock, one that looked more like compacted dirt than anything else, weighing it by hand.

' _Hard to see when moving fast, should disintegrate on impact... Perfect._ '

Taking careful aim, Issei threw the 'rock' as hard as he could at the back wall of the sentry outpost at an equal distance for the two sentries, causing them to automatically look back at the source of the sound, only to notice nothing odd as the projectile shattered as soon as it hit wood, it's dark color causing it to blend into the ground.

They went back to their watch, giving their surveys renewed focus, but by that time Issei had already made it to the outer walls of the compound, outside view of the sentries.

Issei raised his right hand and spread his fingers in a claw-like manner before blades of lightning in the shape and size of the claws of a leopard or similar tree-climbing big cats emerged from the tips of his fingers, while his left hand had a natural sharpness to each of it's fingers.

He jumped, attaching himself to the castle's stone walls with his claws, both improvised and gauntlet-based, before allowing a similar set of curved claws to materialize on the outside of his booths, sinking into the stone as well and allowing him to climb up the stone in the same manner a leopard would climb a tree up until he found a window.

Peering in, he noticed the fact that the specific corridor was empty and dark, using one of his lightning claws to cut a hole into the glass and then sticking it to his hand with **Tantric Energy** before pushing it inwards, making sure that the glass circle did not shatter noisily and allow him to get detected.

Issei climbed through the hole he made in the glass, landing silently inside the re-purposed castle before leaning the glass circle onto the wall. With that out of the way, Issei searched for any electrical lines or cables in order to direct him to the generator or generators that had survived his distraction with the intent of killing those too and making things easier for himself.

He noticed a white cable running along the upper portion of a wall and followed it, slowly and silently moving along the somewhat lit castle, only to end up at a lamp.

Silently cursing, the brunette was about to backtrack in order to follow the cable in the opposite direction, only for the sound of various pairs of boots on the ground reaching his ears. Deciding that the conflict wasn't worth being detected over, Issei kept silently running down the corridor he was on until he reached a T-shaped intersection. Choosing to go right, Issei stuck to the walls and shied away from the sporadically-placed lamps and windows, until he reached a staircase.

With the assumption that gas-based electricity generators wouldn't be kept indoors and on the upper floors of the villain's headquarters, due to the fact that they're noisy, generate high amounts of heat and dangerous fumes, Issei chose to hop over the banister and fall to the flow below, before going back to creeping along the place.

He was forced to stop and hug the wall as he heard voices around the corner.

"Hey Jim."

"Dave! It's been a long time, man!"

"Yeah, 6 months is a long time to go without having a drink with the guys."

"It is, isn't it? Things haven't been the same without Mr. 'Lightsaber Pool cue' around. We should go out some time soon, man! Ricardo, Marcus, Hans and Lee have already confirmed that they'll be going to the bar on the 20th, celebrating Frank's birthday. You should show up, give the boys a pleasant surprise!"

The Dave person sighed heavily, before responding.

"Can't, man. The wife's been sick for a while, and the medical costs are racking up. That, and the bills to take care of the boys and to pay for their schools, and their bitch aunt that lives off of government checks but can't take care of her nephews for a couple of hours every other week, meaning that I have to deal with babysitters and the sort... The bills just keep getting worse.

It's why I came into this line of work in the first place. No one goes to college dreaming of being an armed goon for some monster, but you have to find a way to make money, even if it costs you your sould and your sanity."

"I get you, man. Goons are the most likely to lose their lives in case of conflict, and then there's the fucked up shit that we have to see and say nothing about. I mean, have you seen that shitshow in the dungeons?"

"Don't remind me, man, just thinking of it makes me retch a little in my mouth!"

"I know, man. I just... Seeing those things, doing nothing against them, actually working _for_ the people that make it happen... It's getting harder and harder to look myself in the mirror. I mean, I have a daughter... How do I look her in the eye after work? Whenever I see her, I don't know whether to hug her tight to protect her from the type of scum that I have to work for, or to get as far away from her as possible to make sure that the gunk in my soul doesn't touch her."

"Real fucked up, man, I feel you. But we gotta pay the bills somehow, right?"

"Yeah..."

The two went silent after that, before the sound of boots on stone signaled the fact that one of them moved away.

Leaning past the corner, Issei saw that one of them was standing in the middle of the corridor, his back turned towards Issei and a cigarette in hand, while the other one turned a corner and left hearing range completely.

Issei slowly stepped away from where he stood, slowly creeping closer and closer to the smoking guard. He surprised the man by covering his mouth with his gauntleted hand, ensuring that he couldn't utter a sound, before tearing away the belt that had his holstered pistol and his sheathed knife attached to it.

The guard blindly reached backwards in order to shove the lit cigarette tip onto his attacker, yet Issei didn't as much as grunt at the circular burn below his right eye, before slamming the guard head-first into the wall hard enough to knock him unconscious.

He reared his gauntleted hand back with the intent to finish a possible threat, only for the conversation that he heard to make him hesitate.

Issei ultimately ended up dragging the unconscious rock-skinned man into a cupboard, tying his limbs up in positions that didn't allow him to easily break free, before splashing a bucket of water onto his face, waking him up.

Issei watched the grogginess fade from the man's face, but he spoke up before the man could do anything, his claws a hair's breadth away from his throat.

"Tell me where the backup generator is and you may get out of here alive. Do something stupid, and your throat gets slashed open. Your choice. And do not lie to me, because _**I'll know if you do, and You won't like the consequences.**_ "

The dark tone, sharp claws and killer intent that he leveraged towards the man meant that he didn't even have a chance to resist, his tone nervous and halting as he spoke.

"T-t-the south quadrant! There're two primary generators and a secondary one, all of them industrial, at the southern quadrant of the compound, behind a blue tent!"

" _ **Are you sure?**_ "

"I am! I swear! My buddy Mark did most of the electrical work in this place, he told me himself about how difficult it was to modernize a place like this!"

" _ **I will take your word for now, but if I discover that you lied to me...**_ "

Issei punctuated by running an imperceptible amount of electricity along the edge of his **Boosted Gear** 's claws before sliding them along the stone ground in full view of the man he had questioned, noticing how the man's eyes widened in fear at the fact that his claws split stone like a hot knife through butter. Ignoring the stain that appeared on the man's pants and the acrid smell that filled the cupboard, Issei punched the man unconscious with his gauntleted fist, before gagging him with a rag.

He slipped out of the tiny closet, looking both ways to ensure that no one was heading towards him, before heading towards the closest window, pocketing the stone-skinned man's knife and pistol in the process.

He saw a blue tent in the distance, meaning that that specific window happened to be facing South and that he knew where to head.

There was a stretch of highly-visible, well-lit ground between where Issei stood and the blue tent, with sentries in viewing range, meaning that he couldn't just sneak there, which gave him an Idea.

 _ **~oOo~**_

15 minutes later Issei was walking towards the blue tent, his body clad in the uniform of a guard that he had ambushed close to where he had been previously, as he didn't feel in the mood to dress in a pair of peed-on pants, with a hat tilted in order to keep his face from being seen by the high-up sentries.

He nodded towards some of the guards he walked past, his posture as tall and imposing as possible in order to make him seem less suspicious and as if he belonged, resulting in them responding in kind as if they even knew him, until he reached the blue tent.

Looking around him and noticing the fact that there were more than a few guards, Issei decided to shed the attention on him by lowering his zipper while walking around the tent as if he were going to take a piss, causing the other guards to automatically dismiss the fact that he was heading straight towards the emergency generators.

As soon as he was outside line of sight, Issei headed straight for the generator, only to be stopped by two guards armed with assault rifles, one of them bearing a canine face, with a snout and long ears and everything, and the other one with a scaly, fish-like face with two fins placed where ears would normally be on humans.

The fish-faced one spoke up.

"Halt! This area is interdicted to anyone other than the technician squad! Turn around and return to your post!"

A bead of sweat rolled down Issei's neck at this, though he managed to hide his nervousness as he kept walking towards the two other guards, scratching the back of his head while speaking in a friendly tone.

"Relax, man, I'm just here because I was told that an old drinking buddy of mine was stationed here and I wanted to catch up!"

He looked towards the dog-faced guard before speaking up.

"Hey Dale, it's me, Franklin!"

The dog-faced one spoke up next, his tone serious.

"You must have me confused, my name isn't Dale."

Still walking towards the two, Issei spoke in the same friendly tone.

"You sure? Don't you remember me from about five-ish years ago, Sudan? Nothing?"

"You have me mistaken, I never got stationed in Sudan."

Still moving closer, Issei responded.

"Really? Well, must've mistaken you for someone else."

By now Issei was less than 10 feet away from the two of them, causing the fish-faced one to start raising his rifle, but, before he could, Issei was already between the two guards, jumping into a split kick that knocked both of the instantly unconscious, no shots fired.

He walked past a steel fence into an area with many electric pylons and such, with two massive, yellow and black generators that seemed to be inactive. Following the noise, Issei ended up standing in front of the last active generator.

"Okay, what's the best way to do this silent-"

"I'VE GOT TWO GUYS DOWNED OVER HERE! GET ME SOME MEDICS OVER HERE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, AND TWO SQUADS TO CHECK THE PERIMETER!"

Cursing silently, Issei decided to completely forgo stealth and pointed his index finger at the electrical generator, before releasing a bolt of electricity straight towards it that caused the entire thing to explode, throwing him quite a few feet away and causing a his ears to ring tremendously, the fact that he reinforced himself at the last second being the only reason as to why he wasn't instantly debilitated.

"SQUAD ONE, ON ME, SQUAD TWO, FOLLOW KAZEEM! WE HAVE NIGHT VISION, SO WE CAN TRACK THIS FUCKER!"

Issei shook his head, thanking all of his stars for the enemy calling out their greatest strength at that moment.

' _Jesus fucking Christ, could he try to broadcast shit any louder? At least I can make use of this._ '

Issei got back to his feet, listening to the sound of a dozen firearms being hefted towards him as the soldiers surrounded him, before the same voice from earlier barked out.

"HANDS IN THE AIR! ONE WRONG MOVE AND YOU'RE SWISS CHEESE, MOTHERFUCKER!"

Raising his hands up, Issei spoke up.

"Can I say one thing?"

The voice that responded came from a different direction, with an undertone of smugness.

"It would be cruel to deny you last words, no?"

"It's good that you see things this way, man, because you see... _**SURGE!**_ "

A massive flash of yellow light bombarded the eyes of all armed guards, causing them to instinctively flinch, their hands leaving their weapons to protect their eyes.

Before any of them could correct their mistake, Issei vanished into a yellow blur of motion, dashing from enemy to enemy and defeating them with blows aimed for debilitating areas, such as the temples, the backs of their heads, kidneys, livers and groins. Sometimes he struck all of these simultaneously.

Having finished knocking all of those enemies out, Issei focused **Tantric Energy** into his eyes, enhancing them to the point that he too could see in the dark.

" _ **Nocturnal!**_ "

He dashed away from the area he was previously in, avoiding the areas from which he could hear large amounts of noise, which meant a concentration of guards and soldiers, instead bolting directly for the castle.

Issei saw two guards, confused and panicking from the lack of light, standing one to each side of the castle's main gates. He blitzed past them, kicking the main gates down with a single kick before streaking into the castle proper.

' _Okay, this wasn't part of the plan at all... I was supposed to still be anonymous under the guise of a guard to allow me to move freely... But I can still work with this! Few of them can see in the dark, which means that I have an advantage over a majority of them, and I just have to target the ones that do in order to keep them running around aimlessly. As long as I don't stay too long at the same place and keep moving, then I can get as loud as I can._

 _This way may actually be better. If I manage to make loud noise in different places within a very short time period, they may think there's more than a single enemy and spread themselves thinner. It'll allow me to get underground more easily._ '

With his new plan made, Issei pointed his hand towards a wall before releasing a powerful lightning blast, causing it to blow outwards, dust, bricks and many other types of debris falling on top of earthbound soldiers, before hopping out of the hole and sprinting up the wall towards a window. He blasted said window with a bolt of electricity before hopping inside, still at full sprint. He started crossing corridors, hallways, staircases, setting up various of the remaining explosive tags that he had been given by Laveria, detonating them as soon as he was outside of range, spreading more and more chaos around the compound, resulting in higher and more noticeable panic and disarray amongst the enemy.

He contributed even more to the chaos by rapidly taking down any soldier that he came across as he traversed the castle.

"TO ME, MEN! I CAN STILL SEE, I SHALL ORGANIZE US!"

Issei's eyes widened at the ralying cry that he heard from where he was heading next. He stopped mid-run, turning around with the intent to backtrack, only for the sound of heavy footfals to echo from that direction, more than likely following the pattern of explosions and exclamations of pain.

The brunette saw himself in a connundrum. After running so deeply through the castle without bothering to keep track of where he went, he had completely lost any point of reference he had, meaning that he didn't know how many walls he would have to bust through in order to go outside, if he had any time to even waste before the actually better trained of the goons managed to re-organize, and if his time window for reaching the dungeon where Lilith was more than likely to be held, however much trepidation that thought caused him after the conversation he had overheard earlier.

He looked around, trying to find some way out of this mess, only to spot a door. Having nothing to lose, Issei entered said room, instantly turning around and closing the door behind him as silently as possible.

He pressed his ear to the door, hearing as two very large sets of boots moving from different sides stopped in front of one another, before someone spoke.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!"

"Lt. Col. James Hayter here, head of squad Omega-4-6. Now you ID yourselves before my boys turn you into swiss cheese."

The other voice responded in a lower volume, though the intensity did not get reduced.

"Cpt. Hans Gustaff, Bravo-2."

"Callsign?"

"Brave Boys. Countersign?"

"Outer Rim. We were tracking the tango by following the noise he made, one of mine caught a flash of yellow from him and he was dressed in T-1-3 Garb. Our chase led to here, you boys see him?"

"Nein. I possess night vision, and Herrman's whiskers are very sensitive to shifts in air pressure, which means that anyone moving fast enough for me not to see them would be detected by him."

The two paused mid-talk, with Issei feeling a sense of nervousness at this pause, leaning away from the door right before a hand slammed hard into the door, with the voice belonging to Hans speaking up.

"Fraulein Stevenson, are you alright?"

Issei's eyes widened further at this, prompting him to turn around only to spot a large bed with a young woman laying on it, and the fact that a light green glow emanated from the walls, likely magical in origin, enough for her to definitely have noticed him. Their gazes met, and he noticed that she was as taken aback as him, if not more. After all, she was the one whose sleep was interrupted by explosions and chaos, only for some strange guy to invade her room.

The door was banged on again, with Hans speaking again.

"Fraulein _[Miss]_ Stevenson? Are you gut?"

Issei gave the woman a pleading look, before Hayter spoke up.

"Surround this door, we're breaking in!"

 _ **~oOo~**_

"All set, lads?"

Hayter looked towards Jameson, that stood to the left of the door, seeing him nod before, before shifting his gaze to the right of the door and to Gunter, one of Hans' best, who responded with a nod as well.

Removing the safety on his pistol and chambering a round, Hayter reared his foot back, in preparation to slam through the door, only for it to be opened just before he could kick, with a head of black hair, olive-toned skin and green eyes, with a generally mediterranean facial structure to peer out. She spoke up in a soft, reserved tone.

"I'm sorry for taking so long to respond, Mr. Hayter, Mr. Gustaff, I had been asleep until you called for me, and it took me a while to actually get responsive."

Noddind at that, James spoke up.

"Understandeable, miss. Since you have just awoken, it is best for you to be warned, there seems to be a person, or persons, within the compound. They have been taking down our boys and sabotaging the entire operation."

"Oh my, that sounds very dangerous! Thank the heavens for you men and your work!"

While some of the men preened under the praise of an admitedly beautiful woman, Hans's gaze did not become any less severe, prompting him to speak up.

"Fraulein Stevenson, in the effort to ensure your security, I believe it would be best to effectuate a search of your quarters. After all, with you sleeping until just recently, it is a possibility that our saboteur, or saboteurs, having hidden within them, without your knowledge."

Blinking at that, the young woman spoke, her face in a frown and her tone noticeably colder than before.

"You wish to intrude upon the privacy of a maiden's quarters?"

"T'is simply to cast off the worry of you being targetted by this bad element, Fraulein Stevenson. You may understand why we believe this to be needed."

The young woman frowned further, causing Hans' eyes to tighten almost imperceptibly, his grip moving towards the grip of his rifle, only for the young woman to let out a frustrated huff, pulling her terrycloth robe tighter together before moving away from the door.

"Very well. If I must suffer this indignity, then at least make it quick."

Hans nodded at his men, causing them to pour into the room, while Hayter's stood guard outside.

There were very few places to hide in within the room, with the men easily pulling back curtains to look behind, opening windows and looking both below and above, since they were trained agents and wouldn't fall for that hollywood drivel of not looking above/below only for the 'hero' to be there.

After all of the usual places were checked, the men set up a formation around the bed, before Hans himself slowly, ever so slowly, stepped towards it. Crouching besides it, the german poked the tip of his rifle under the bed - his entire squad readying up for contact - before he flipped the covers up as hard as he could, with the entirety of the room's weapons aiming down at the bed.

The man lied down stomach-first on the floor, peering under the bed, before getting up, satisfied.

"It seems that everything checks out, Fraulein Stevenson _._ Es tut mir sehr leid _[It does me sorrow]_ , Fraulein, but it was our prerrogative to ensure that you were not under threat."

"Well you have ensured that by completely violating my privacy and putting my room in disarray! I shall be reporting your misbehavior and breach of etiquette to your superiors!"

The man nodded, before calling out.

"Kader _[Squad]_ , move out!"

His squad responded by saluting, before filing out of the room and going out in a search for the dangerous element, with Hayter's squad following the opposite direction, sure of the fact that he was not within that room.

Having closed her door and waited more than a few minutes to ensure that the men truly left, the woman approached her book shelf, before speaking up.

"They're gone, you're free to come out."

The bookshelf moved aside with barely any noise, revealing Issei, and a corridor lit up by an oil candle behind him, leading to parts unknown.

Leaving the tight corridor, Issei spoke up.

"Thanks for the help, miss..."

"Jacqueline. Jacqueline Stevenson, but my friends call me Jackie. And it's no problem, Mister..."

"...Issei. That is all I can tell you, even after your aid. Sorry. What made you help me in the first place, if you don't mind me asking? Not that I'm not grateful, or anything!"

"...Your eyes were asking for help. I... have a hard time refusing others help, when their need is so genuine. Your eyes... they're so clear, so expressive... It's as if they're untainted..."

With each word she said, Jackie leaned closer towards Issei, her gaze always meeting his. She seemed to lose track of herself, leaning forward even further, only for Issei to look down and comment.

"That's a very interesting collar you're wearing."

These words seemed to awaken Jackie, causing her to turn her face away from Issei, her hands instinctively covering her neck as if she were embarassed of the choker-like steel collar she wore, while her cheeks burned with a bright blush.

Cursing himself internally for making the air awkward, Issei spoke up.

"Uh... Well, as much as I'd like to stay and talk, I have something important to do."

This seemed to arouse Jackie's interest, prompting her to face Issei again and ask.

"W...what is your goal here?"

"...My girlfriend was abducted, and the evidence points towards here. I heard a conversation about a dungeon of some kind, so I intend to go there in order to verify whether she's present or not."

Jackie seemed to think something through for a bit, struggling internally, before nodding to herself as she reached a conclusion.

"Follow me, I can lead you to the Dungeons."

Issei perked up at that, watching as Jackie, slid the bookcase aside and walked in, heading towards the sconce and picking up a lit torch, before she started walking down the darkened tunnel. He pulled the bookcase shut behind him, before following after her.

They took various twists and turns, walking for minutes on end, occasionally hearing the sounds of boots above them, or voices barking orders below them, yet they did not stop. After a while of so many winding tunnels Jackie finally stopped, placing the torch on another sconce before placing both hands on a part that seemed seamlessly connected to the rest of the stone and dirt before pushing lightly, causing it to dislodge itself and siled away, leading to the customary empty space between two flights of stairs.

Jackie slid the wall closed after Issei stepped out, before speaking.

"We're already below ground, if we go down this last flight of stairs we'll reach the Dungeons."

Nodding at that, Issei responded.

"Thanks for your help, I'll be able to make do from here on my own."

"What? No! I want to go with you! I want to help!"

"This is very dangerous, most of these people are armed and on edge from my earlier actions, they won't hesitate to shoot at the tiniest motion."

"Well, another reason for me to stay with you! If you took the normal paths it's likely you'd meet a lot of them, and you don't know the compound's secret tunnels as well as I do! You need me to guide you!"

Issei bit his lip at that, knowing that she had a point. Even if he managed to get Lilith, without guidance it would end up with both of them turned into swiss cheese. He had no other option.

"Fine, you can come, but stay behind me at all times."

"O-okay!"

They started slowly and steadily walking down the stairs, neither of them having a single misstep despite the fact that the stairs were very old, uneven and worn-out, something that caused Issei's eyes to narrow lightly, however he disregarded this for now.

As they reached the end of the stairs, they head guard chatter, with some chuckles added into the mix.

Jumping down the rest of the stairs and landing silently, Issei didn't give the two guards any time to react before he was already within their guards, the first one incapacitated with a kick to the groin followed by a blow to the head, while the second one got a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of him, followed by a punch to the throat, closing off his airways temporarily.

Kicking the door down, Issei walked into the dungeon only to witness a horrifying scene.

Various barred-off cells with women in them, their eyes glazed and lifeless, their clothes nothing but shreds, and their bodies covered in copious amounts of bodily fluids. Some of them were nothing more than skin and bones, and more than a few seemed to have an IV Drip connected to their arm, a purple-glowing liquid flowing into them and causing them to pant madly, their mouths frothing, while they muttered a whole bunch of gibberish, most of it relating to sex.

"H-hey, who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing here?"

This call caused Issei's head to snap towards it's source, a tall, muscular guard that seemed to be hurriedly standing up and doing up his pants, with many of his fellow soldiers following suit. However, everything changed when Issei's eyes fell onto the girl that the guard had been violating.

A little girl. She couldn't even be elementary-school aged.

Jackie gasped as soon as she saw the scene, her eyes welling up with tears, as the guards tried to shake off their arousal and, for a few of them, their post-orgasmic lethargia in order to arm themselves, but it was much too late for them.

His eyes gaining a green glow, his pupils lengthening into slits and his hair raising into disarrayed spikes in the manner of a bristling cat's, Issei saw the world gradually tinting red, before his body moved.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"-sei! Stop, Mr. Issei! They're already... They can't hurt anyone anymore!"

These cries caused Issei to snap back into awareness, his eyes and hair returning to normal. He looked around where he stood, seeing puddles and bits of red arrayed around him, with his stolen uniform's jacked being copiously stained. He looked down at his hands, just now noticing the fact that his right hand was holding a skull and spine, with some bits of flesh still attached.

He threw it away in disgust, reeling back, before speaking up shakingly.

"W-w-what h-happened he-here? Wh-what the hell?"

He turned towards Jackie, his eyes asking, no, _begging_ her for an explanation. The raven-haired girl swallowed down any trepidation, before responding.

"After you saw the little girl, Mr. Issei, you just... Moved. I... I looked away, so I didn't see most of what happened, but they screamed. And they kept screaming. I peeked once, and you were... Moving... and they started disappearing by limbs and pieces."

Issei looked down at the mangled state of the bodies, horrified at the fact that he was the one who did this, before his gaze fell back on all of the women trapped in that place, all of them broken in one way or another.

And then, _it_ struck.

Issei was deeply connected to his own lust, as connected to it as anyone other than a succubus could be, in fact, so he could feel the energy that was hanging in the room.

It was a thick lust, but not the normal, sweet, light and heady feeling that he usually detected in Luxuria. It was a heavy feeling, pressing down on him, with hints of bitterness, rage, despair and hatred. It was a lust that just felt perverse, wrong, _Putrid_. That, together with the awareness of what he had done, and the scent of blood, guts and semen pervading the dungeons had only one end result. Issei moved away from where he had regained awareness, leaning onto the wall furthest away from the blood, guts and women, before...

" _ **BLEHGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_ "

Jackie averted her gaze as Issei vomitted, the burning sensation filling his nostrils, while pains of a mix of anger, despair, sorrow, sadness and _**Absolute Hatred**_ rolled down his face, which could not decide whether it frowned, scowled, snarled or sneered.

Wiping his mouth clean, Issei managed to stand straight, ignoring the fire that started burning on the left side of his chest and that started pumping through his veins with all the heat and thickness of magma, Issei walked back towards the cells of the trapped women, looking each over closer than before, simultaneously hoping that he'd find Lilith already, and that she was as far away from here as possible, meaning that she didn't suffer any of this.

His heart all but stopped when he saw a head of familiar, butt-length purple hair from behind.

He dashed into the cell, grabbing the girl's shoulder and turning her around...

The face that met him was unfamilliar, a pair of brown eyes looking past him, with a pair of long, feather-covered ears protruding from her head, and her lower body looking distinctly avian, covered in feathers as well.

Leaning back away from the broken woman, Issei sighed in relief that it wasn't Lilith, before a massive spike of guilt followed for even having this thought, as if the fact that it was someone that he didn't know made it any less wicked.

He swallowed all of these emotions, his tone bland and emotionless as he spoke.

"Jackie... What's the path most likely to take us to the head of this operation?"

The girl shivered at Issei's tone, her shiver intensifying at the emptiness of the clearest, most expressive pair of eyes she had seen to date. Pushing that away, she spoke up.

"Well, if we go back into the tunnels, we should-"

"No. I'm through hiding. I am very, very angry, and I am going to show everybody that allowed this to happen. I won't touch anyone that stands aside, but if anyone gets in my way, _**I'll erase them, just like I'll erase that shit Travis.**_ So, _please_ tell me the most direct path from here to the boss's room."

Gulping, Jackie walked out of the dungeon and started climbing up the stairs, with Issei calmly and methodically walking behind her. The two walked mostly in silence, only the sounds of steps on the stairs and their breathing filling the air. They ended up at a wooden door, which Issei punched through easily, only to be met with a full squadron of armed men, both supernatural and human-looking, including the Hayter and Gustaff.

Hayter was the one to take initiative.

"FREEZE! RELEASE MISS STEVENSON AND YOU HAVE YOUR EXECUTION POSTPONED! ANY SUDDEN MOVES AND YOU'RE DEAD!"

"...Did any of you know about what was happening in the dungeons?"

More than a few of the soldiers started squirming at that question, while Hayter and his squad showed visible surprise, with Hayter voicing it.

"There were dungeons to this place?"

He looked at Hans through the corners of his eyes, keeping his peripheral vision on Issei as he spoke.

"We were never told about dungeons. You know that extra space to protect means a higher bill, including any materials that could be stashed down there!"

Hans did not answer, a few of the men actually looking away shamefully now, as Issei spoke up.

"You didn't know about the dungeons, truly?"

He looked at the crowd of men, his gaze moving from one to another, rapidly assessing more than a handful, before speaking up.

"Quite a few of you knew, but I will explain it anyways."

Issei's eyes met Hayter directly, conveying just how _hollowsorrowfulangry_ _ **LIVID**_ he was, even as he spoke in his emotionless tone.

"Sex slaves. Women, taken from their homes, and their families, and anyone they loved, locked within a dank dungeon, pumped full of aphrodisiacs and then abused by the guards. _**Raped.**_ "

Hayter recoiled at that, before speaking up.

"What the fuck?"

His gaze moved to Hans as he asked.

"Is this true?"

Hans didn't respond, forcing Hayter to actually look around, his gaze swinging along the various men arrayed there and completely forgetting Issei as he spoke.

"TELL ME THIS ISN'T FUCKING TRUE!"

He noticed that one of his own did not seem to be as flabbergasted as the rest of his lads, his face showing shame and self-disgust.

"Danvers, tell me that you didn't know about this."

The man grit his teeth, his fists tightening.

"Danvers. Tell me you didn't know about this."

"..."

"DANVERS!"

"I'M SORRY, BOSS! IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE BEEN WITH A WO-"

 **BANG!**

Many of the soldiers looked at Hayter in surprise, their gazes locked on the smoking barrel that had just put a shot into Danvers' head being held by his own captain, before the man spoke up.

"Fake parameters were given to us, boys. After a reassessment of the situation, I have considered this an unacceptable change and a blatant and malicious act of misinformation. We're breaking the agreement, and never taking any more contracts from the bastard that pointed us to this endeavor."

Hayter's squad seemed to be as angry as him, none of them speaking in disagreement of their leader, neither in words, nor in body language, and they gave him space to walk out of the group, as did every other hired gun present. He stopped besides Danver's still warm corpse, spitting on it, before calling out.

"Someone pick up that body. Us Outer Rim lads take care of our own rubbish."

Two of the soldiers picked up Danvers' corpse after spitting on it, neither of them particularly minding the fact that they might be touching their own or eachother's spit, as they had waded through much worse running ops, before moving away.

Issei's focus shifted to the rest of the soldies, before speaking up.

"It seems that the rest of you either knew about the situation, abused the situation, or simply do not care about it as much as you care about a paycheck. I guess I know whom to take care of first."

At these words, Hans shouted out.

"ALL MEN, OPEN FI-"

" _ **SURGE! REINFORCE! SHINING DRAGON'S COAT!**_ "

A massive surge of electricity pulsed outwards from Issei, causing more than a handful soldier's bullets to explode either within the chamber or the magazine, rendering their weapons unusable, and even taking away a few limbs.

Then, he _Vanished_.

Spurts of red started splashing around the room, covering the chest of a soldier right before he had his own throat slashed open, or another before sharp claws stabbed into his spine. In-between his rampage, the words " _ **SPARKING DRAGON'S TALONS**_ " could be heard, before the bodies started dropping at double the speed.

Now, instead of simply slashing into spines, Issei was cutting straight through bodies. Instead of slitting throats, he was decapitating. Each punch shattered bones, each kick ruptured organs.

Some shots were fired by those wil still functioning firearms, though they were more counterproductive than anything else as no one present could even track Issei at the speed he was moving, more often than not felling a fellow soldier and spreading more chaos.

After 5 minutes of pure carnage, all of the soldies present were dead, with the last one having been Hans, whose head had been split open.

His rampage ended, and his clothes somehow managing to be untouched by the blood this time, Issei turned towards Jackie, before speaking up.

"We were heading towards the boss bastard?"

Jackie finally remembered to breathe, nodding shakily before moving, walking around the various corpses and pools of blood, and leading Issei through the castle, up a few sets of stairs and to an ornate door.

The brunette dispensed with invitations, kicking the door down and seeing the bastard himself sitting on his throne.

Many things wished to leave Issei at the same time, only a few of them in the form of words, even fewer of them coherent words, and less than a handful of them were unrelated to extremely violent acts. Instead, the brunette kept silent, rolling up his sleeeves as he walked into the room.

Travis was the one to break the silence.

" Hyoudou Issei, the _human nobody_ that dared to get in the way of my greatness, of my destiny! Welcome to my humble abode! What can I get you, a snack, some beverage, anything?"

Issei seemed to be oblivious to Travis, cracking the knuckles of his right hand, his gaze seemingly thousands of miles away.

The lack of acknowledgement irritated the Incubus, prompting him to shift his focus to the female part of the equation.

"And, ah, Jacqueline herself, leading the enemy right to my _secret lair_! Naughty-naughty, I thought we were better friends than that~"

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER! I COULD NEVER BEFRIEND SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

Smiling cruelly, Travis responded.

"Ah, but surely it takes a monster, to know a monster, no?"

The girl went silent at that, gritting her teeth and looking away from Travis, her hands covering her choker, while Travis kept on talking.

"Speaking of that, I heard the comotion downstairs and then I felt the presence of people disappearing from the ward's detection capabilities. With so many deaths there surely must have been blood. How did you manage to control _it_?"

The girl turned a gaze full of silent hatred towards Travis, tears building up at the corners of her eyes, while the Incubus shifted his focus to Issei, who seemed to havev just finished stretching, warming up and limbering his body.

He shed the military jacket he had snatched completely, rolling up both legs of the camo-patterned pants, before raising both of his fists, his left one slightly ahead and pointing straight towards Travis. Having taken that position, Issei spoke up.

"I am going to beat you. You will ask me to stop. I will not. Then I will break you. You will ask me for mercy, I will have none to give you. Then, after I have everything I need from you, I will make you despair. You will beg for quarter, yet you will not have it. And when you finally beg me for death, I will deny you that pleasure as well."

"Ah, playing the tough guy routine instead of the cheery cripple, aren't you? Are you still mad that I took your girlfriend? Or was it fiancé? Regardless, it was so unimportant that I forgot what it was."

His eyes narrowing, Issei shot towards Travis, his right hand going for a devastating blow to the gut, only for the brunette to be surprised when Travis blocked the punch with his right forearm, a mocking grin on his face. He pushed Issei away, causing Issei to fly back a big distance before he managed to right himself middair to land back on his feet. Travis spoke up at that.

"Surprised, aren't you? Well, this is what the girls down there were for. They're constantly producing **Tantric Energy** , I keep absorbing it without the effort expended to seduce women, and I store it, and I become stronger."

Travis' eyes widened, before he flexed, causing his slim body to explode into a mass of twitching, builging, veiny muscle, tearing the clothes off of his upper body in the process, revealing a magical circle shining a sickly green right on top of his heart.

"This baby, right above my heart, is my key to power. It allows my to directly drain the power of **Tantric Energy** and infuse it into myself in a simile of the Succubi's _**Reinforcement**_ , and with the girls still connected to me even as we speak, my power just keeps growing. You cannot defeat me, Hyoudou Iss-"

Travis was surprised by a hard kick to the face, causing his face to snap to the side and blood to spurt from his mouth, before a punch from the opposite direction did the same in the reverse sense, only for Issei to grip Travis' head with both hands, only to deliver as hard a headbutt as he could while _**Reinforcing**_ his skull, a snarl on his face, causing Travis to fly backwards from the hard blow.

Issei cocked his legs back to chase after Travis, but the incubus obviously not used to fighting on the level of Issei called out in a panic.

"Bloody Mary!"

"NO!"

Issei turned towards the source of the squeak, watching first-hand how a squirt of red liquid spurted from Jackie's choker/collar straight onto her face, causing her face to shift from horrified to delighted, a blood-red color emerging at the roots of her hair and going all the way to the tips, while her irises too were taken up by the same shade of red.

Licking her lips clean of the blood that had been squirted onto her face, she spoke.

"Hello there, cutie, or should I say handsome? Gorgeous, maybe? An absolute stallion? I have no idea, but after seeing the beautiful carnage and bloodshed that you're capable of, I'm even _more_ interested than before~"

"...Jackie?"

The girl giggled, a crazed, hysteric note to the giggle, before speaking in a typical "airheaded, valley-girl tone".

"Wro~ong, Jackie's not home at the moment, please leave a message after the beep!"

Watching Travis getting back to his feet from the corners of his eyes, Issei spoke.

"If you're not Jackie... Then who are you?"

"Hylda Stevenson, the other side of Jacqueline Stevenson, her alter, the Maid of Blood and Violence, and the holder of the Sacred Gear **[Bloody Reign]** , at your service."

'Hylda' finished her introduction with a mocking bow, before standing back to her full height, and resuming her talking.

"Now that introductions are done, how about some foreplay? I'm very partial to rough and tumble play myself, with a little choking added to the mix~"

He words were punctuated by a pair of red daggers made literally of blood materializing in her hands.

Now Issei was forced to face both an empowered Travis, and the same bloody enemy that he fought before, but now with the knowledge that she is as much a villain as she is a victim of her own **Sacred Gear** , meaning that he didn't wish to fight her lethal, yet he wished to apply lethal force to Travis.

' _Fuck it, I'll improvise!_ '

Issei's eyes narrowed as Hylda flew towards him, slower than their last conflict and allowing him to easily dodge and parry her blows, before retaliating with a punch aimed at the jaw in order to knock her out instantly, which was instead blocked by a barrier of blood made solid, before appeared within Issei's view, his foot extended in an exaggerated kicking motion.

Issei would've dodged and countered, if it were not for the tendril of blood that wrapped around his leg, surprising him and allowing him to take a hard kick to the chest, coughing out a few flecks of blood.

Issei rolled back to a standing position, setting his feet in order to block the next blow from Travis without being blown back, intercepting a punch in a cross guard, only for Hylda to appear next to him and swing a blade at his side, something that he barely managed to avoid receiving full damage from by spinning in the opposite direction that she had attacked from, ending up at Travis' unprotected side and retaliating with a hard kick to the ribs, feeling at least one shattering, enjoying the pained scream from Travis, before punching him straight in the nose, throwing him away.

His focus then shifted onto Hylda, except now she had a pair of circuit board-like lines on her left cheek, as she had last time. And this time, when she dashed towards Issei, her speed was significally higher, forcing him to move faster in order to avoid her attacks.

' _She can control any blood around her, and cutting her enemy makes her stronger..._ '

Issei parried a right-handed swipe with his gauntlet, repositioning it to block a left thrust as well, keeping both of Hylda's hands occupied, allowing him to deliver a kick to her chin that sent her spinning backwards, yet a spurt of blood emerged from the floor, creating a blot that stopped her body before she could slam into the wall.

Issei's focus forcefully changed at the familiar sound of something heavy being thrown, just barely allowing him to dodge the massive wooden table that had been thrown his way, which was followed by the stone throne.

Isse reacted by shattering the stone throne with a kick before dashing towards Travis, releasing a barrage of punches that he felt pulverize a few more ribs, but before he could take him down he was forced to jump back, the blade of a massive scythe cutting through the space that he had been previously occupying.

His focus shifted onto Hylda, watching the young woman gleefully twirling around the massive weapon made of blood, before she pointed her finger at Issei.

"I can't beat you right now, neither could the two of you beat you right now as we are, but... I still have a few tricks under my sleeve! **Armored State!** "

The blood around Hylda coalesced into the form of a massive armor as expected from a knight of old, giving extra defensive ability, while a massive claymore appeared on each of her hands.

A massive warhammer of blood appeared within Travis' grip, causing him to grin viciously at Issei, before the two attacked in tandem, moving faster than Issei thought they would with the added weight of armor + weapons for Hylda, and just the weapon for Travis.

He barely managed to parry both of the claymores being swung at the speed of daggers with his gauntleted hand, before he was forced to directly block the overhead warhammer blow, feeling a teeth-chattering shockwave traversion through his body, before the ground under him cratered, then broke completely, causing the three of them to fall to the floor below, the room full of blood that Issei had slaughtered the soldies in.

Hylda gave Issei a massive grin, causing the brunette's eyes to narrow, before he spoke up.

" _ **SURGE! REINFORCE! SHINING DRAGON'S COAT! SPARKING DRAGON'S CLAW!**_ "

Black and purple tribal tattoos climbed up Issei's body as a consequence of Reinforcement, even as electricity coalesced around him in the form of a second-skin, or a cloak of some sort, and created a set of short sword-length claw-shaped talons on his right hand.

While Travis still smile stupidly, not knowing what Issei was truly capable of, Hylda's eyes widened at the fact that he was willing to face her this seriously despite knowing of Jackie, something that she expected him to be unable to do.

She didn't even have the time to give a single warning before Issei appeared in front of Travis, the dragon talons already having sunk into his stomach.

Issei drew his arm back, but he watched as tendrils of blood started surrounding him, growing closer and closer with the intent to trap him...

Only for him to _vanish_.

He flickered out of existence for a bit, flickering back to existence beside Hylda, backhanding her with his gauntleted hand, which almost caused her to lose her consciousness.

He turned his back on Hylda, slowly walking towards a panicking Travis, who noticed that even with the **Tantric Energy** that he was siphoning at the moment his injury was taking too slow to recover.

" **BLOODY REIGN!** "

Issei's eyes widened at how much the **Pressure** being emitted by Hylda skyrocketted, turning his face to look at her only to recieve a stomp to the face, throwing him towards a wall and causing him to crash throught the solid stone.

Standing up after the impact, stretching out the kinks of the rough landing and flicking off the dust that had built up in his hair, Issei turned his gaze back towards Hylda, only to be surprised at the throbbing and bulging veins arrayed around her entire body, with many red, circuit board-like lines arrayed around her skin as well.

Her muscles seemed o be moving in a very odd and disturbing manner underneath her skin, as if each fiber were being individually controlled...

"Y-you didn't."

Issei's horrified tone caused Hylda to grin at him, an action that seemed even more terrifying due to the fact that some of her face muscles had not moved accordingly, before she turned into a blur of motion, forcing Issei to raise his hands to block her strike, only for a blade to materialize between the two of them mid-motion, which she grabbed and followed through with the slice at his chest.

" **REINFORCE!** "

Issei pushed more **Tantric Energy** towards his chest, causing the cut to be superficial, before kicking Hylda away from him and dashing after her, releasing a flurry of blows that she managed to avoid by moving, twisting and contorting in a completely inhuman manner.

The two kept moving back and forth, trading blows at a speed that left them less than blurs for Travis, whose mind could only say a single thing.

' _Monsters! The two of them, monsters! Too powerful! I... I can't let it end like this!_ '

Ensuring that the other two were still embroiled in their intense battle, Travis slowly crawled away from them, back towards his throne room.

Meanwhile, both Issei and Hylda sped up, trading blows back and forth between fists, gauntlet, talons and blade-made swords, daggers and spears.

The two clashed, each of them sliding backwards, before dashing back towards eachother, engaging in another clash between sword and talons.

Hylda's body seemed to be at it's limit, the skin of her arm tearing lightly and causing a spurt of blood to fly out. She made use of this spurt, unable to do much more to it than direct it to land in Issei's eyes to blind him.

It worked, distracting him for a second, during which she managed to stab a few inches into his torso. Issei barely managed to avoid any damage to his guts or any other organs by gripping tightly onto the blade of the Nagitana that she had summoned, before releasing a surge of electricity that caused the blood to lose cohesion and pushed her away.

Hylda intended to initiate again, but her leg failed her, one of the muscles giving out, allowing Issei to close the distance between them and punch her in the face. Hard.

She managed to erect a shield behind her, but it still didn't change thef act that she felt most of the impact of breaking through a solid stone wall, causing her to barely manage to stand on her feet.

Issei started walking towards her, his eyes shaded, before Travis' voice got the attention of both.

"Y-you two think you're better than me just because of your freakish powers? You think us normals are below you? Always looking down on us, huh? Well newsflash, this normal can take down you monsters as easy as one... two... three!"

Issei and Hylda's eyes widened at the massive amount of magical circles that covered the entirety of the visible parts of the castle, floor, walls, ceiling, and all of them had a single purpose.

Travis gave the two of them a psychotic grin before a magical circle appeared underneath him, with him sinking into it with the emition of purple sparks, before disappearing completely.

The magical circles started flashing, the amount of energy they built up increasing as they tapped into the leylines that were feeding the wards.

In a last ditch effort, Isse dashed towards Hylda, hoisting her bloody and broken form over her shoulder, before pooling all of the different types of energy he had together, a single-minded idea of ' _ **Get us out of here**_ ' coupled with a vague image of a magical circle, taken both from the one that he saw when he was first transported to this specific forest from Luxuria, and the bit that he managed to see from Travis'.

 **BOOM!**

The massive explosion completely obliterated the compound, that forest and many miles of wilderness around it, luckily not getting anywhere close to inhabited territory. The authorities marked it as a particularly high-magnitude earthquake that completely erased one of Hungary's forests from the map, perhaps permanently. But that's not what we're interested in right now, is it?

 _ **~oOo~**_

 _ **Crack... Crackle... POP!**_

A flash of purple light deposited a battered and broken Hylda, and a tired, magically exhausted and somewhat scorched Issei in a very cold place. Underneath them was snow, around them was snow, everything was snow as far as the eye could see, and even the air around them whipped around harshly, the biting cold winds being a consequence of nothing other than a snowstorm.

In those conditions, wearing only a shirt, military pants and boots, and carrying Sadako's twice-removed cousin over his shoulder, the only thing that kept Issei moving was his will to survive.

He will not die.

He will survive.

He will save Lilith.

He will save Jackie.

But, most important of all.

 _ **HE WILL COMPLETELY ANNIHILATE TRAVIS LAUCIA**_.

With these thoughts in mind, Issei wandered away, following his instinct, disappearing with his tag-along into the heavy snowstorm.

 _ **~Chapter, End!~**_


	11. Bloody Snow

**Hey hey hey, Francogamerxz here, with the newest chapter of "** _ **Canon when?**_ **" for your reading enjoyment! As you already know, at the start of the chapter I tend to, if there are any, respond to any review that can be construed as a question, so long as answering it would not cause massive spoilers for my future plans.**

 **So, here goes!**

 **force200 says: "The ability to „read" an object is called Psychometry, psychokinesis is something else.** **"**

 **A: Not a question, but I found it pertinent to answer. I know that reading an object is Psychometry, my writing in psychokinesis (** _ **which is actually the ability to physically affect the world with the power of your mind**_ **) was a trypo that I only caught after already having posted the last chapter. Sorry for any inconviniences and confusion to any reader by this fail of mine!**

 **Emrys Akayuki says: "WHAT?! THAT'S IT?! WHERE'S LILITH?!**

 **Also that A/N at the beginning just made me more worried. You fantasticly evil writer, you."**

 **A: We're all curious about where Lilith is, man. Her absence has really been worrying me, if she doesn't hit me up in 12 hours I'm calling the police!**

 **Just kidding! That being said, we'll be adressing this subject very soon. The second part, about the A/N worrying you... Wow, I really wish I could say that it was my intent to create a set of expectations, but unfortunately I'm not that good.** _ **Yet**_ **.**

 **says: "Bloody Hell, what was that?"**

 **A: That, my friend, was me shifting up the pace. I was itching for some action, you guys were itching for some action, and so was Issei... so we got the action we all wanted, even though Issei may have been left quite a bit wanting. Throwing the occasional surprise, or curveball into a story is fun!**

 **QuantumTesseractAlpha says: "Noooooooo, I hate cliffhangers! UNFOLLOWED! All joking aside, I really did enjoy this chapter. It portays Issei's willingness to go very far for the people he cares about, and you've pulled it off pretty well. A question I do have though is how much of the Eagle of Victory's powers will you give Issei? Will he have the same amount of power as he has now from Aquilla throughout the story, or will she give him more as he proves himself worthy? Looking forward to more best girl interactions with Lilith and Aquilla! Keep on with the good work, and I'll be eagerly waiting for the next chapter!"**

 **A: About the eagle of victory's power, you need to look back at the conversation they had in the mindscape. Aquila explains that she intended to give him just enough to keep him alive and to give her a minor beacon, so she could know where he is, but, as she said:**

 _ **"It was supposed to be a transient state, with my power fading with use overtime..."**_

 **We can see that that wasn't what happened though, and Issei is gaining more and more power overtime. It isn't Aquila "donating" power per se, but the tiny fragment that she left within Issei thriving and growing on it's own. Combat-wise, that's what's happening with her power, but there will be other elements that you'll learn more about soon.**

 **Fazrulz says: "Genderbent Assassin Jekyll and Berserker Hyde (or was it reverse?) enters the next line for Issei's harem~! *Final Fantasy Victory BGM*"**

 **A: I know enough about the Nasuverse to know that those are refferences to servant classes, but I have to say in all honesty that I didn't see things that way as I was writing. I just thought of a character concept that I'd enjoy, someone who sees their sacred gear as more of a hassle than an usable tool, and that ends up getting into a mess way over their head because of it. That being said, I really enjoyed the allusion, but I think that 'Hyde' would be more of an EMIYA-esque saber or lancer. Fights in a primarily physical manner using a myriad of hand-to-hand weapons, with her blood shortswords being primary, and uses blood to spawn more weapons as needed, enhance herself physically beyond her limits, and even to shape the battlefield.**

 **Holy shit I made bloodMiya. Is that a good thing?**

 **AnimeA55Kicker says: "Ok that got quite dark there. I would like to have one thing clarified, was Lilith raped? Cause that would be dark."**

 **A: We don't know what's made of Lilith yet, really, so no one knows whether bad things have or have not happened to her. If she was indeed raped it would be bad, yes, but we don't know if it happened so... All we can do is wait and hope for the best, really.**

 **invisivel says: "Why does he keep saying Jesus Christ? Issei is Japanese."**

 **A: Real reason? Think of it as some sort of self-imposed, involuntary localization issue. It's so engraved into western culture to use these terms in exclamations of all sorts, despite your actual beliefs, so people just subconsciously use them. Since this is a story that involves all sorts of beliefs and such, I guess that I slipped into that habit, instead of using the mentality I would in a Naruto story to use more japanese terms, such as Kami, etc.**

 **In lore, let's just say that it's a consequence of hanging around a people born from the consequences of the actions of the Christian God, using a power granted by his system, etc.**

 **renextronex says: "Psyhokinesis from the Greek words** **ψυχή ("psyche") – meaning mind, soul, spirit, or breath – and κίνησις ("kinesis") – meaning motion, movement. Psyhokinesis is the power to move an object using the power of the mind**

 **The word you were looking for Jade's power would be Psychometry** **"**

 **A: Yup. As stated earlier, typo, but once again, thanks for taking the time to correct a failure of mine, as it means that you care about the story!**

 **Josef Bican says: "(HATE MY FUCKING COUNTRY)**

 **-No, seriously, now i find myself mentally yelling at the top of my lungs 'Prepare your anus Travis!' *haunting sound of a ridiculously over stretched white glove*. That pathetic waste of time and space deserves to be boiled in oil (especially if he did something to the certified waifu Lilith, which sadly seems very likely. Though 't help but wonder the ritual fuel or something value the virginity of a Succubi might give us hope).**

 **Moving onto other stuff, I gotta say I found fascinating both the idea of a female Jeckyll & Hyde and the concept of a blood based Sacred Gear. The fact both came on the form of a character I initially dismissed as a boring bloodlusting fighter is a tremendous plus.**

 **The conversation between the minor goons early the chapter makes thing of something pulled out from a Quentin Tarantino film (I'm saying this a plus btw.)**

 **Also: Good God! The speech! The fucking "I'll break you" is one of the most purely epic badass things I've ever seen.**

 **Anyway it's nearly 1:30am over here so I'll skip right to my main questions.**

 **1\. I get they couldn't send a squad to curbstomp Travis and save Lilith, but did they actually HAVE to send Issei all by himself? I mean I don't think any possible spies would noticed just one or two Succubi leaving the city.**

 **2\. (I don't think this will happen but I'm asking anyway) Is Laveria gonna be part of Issei's harem? Because from what I've seen so far they make quite a good couple.**

 **3\. Is Issei gonna leave Xinthia a mewling mess like he did with Bernice? Because useful or not, after such a traininig-slash-torture I know would like to get one over such a 'kind' instructor.**

 **With nothing left to add for now, I wish you good luck and hope you manage to get the next chapter soon. See ya later."**

 **A: Ok, wow. This was just one of three reviews that you sent me Josef, for which I am thankful, but it also means that in order to avoid redundancy I will only quote this once, and adress it. (** _ **The fact that this was the only review with questions posed for me from the 3 you sent helps as well :P**_ **)**

 **So, let's see.**

 **1.** _ **I get they couldn't send a squad to curbstomp Travis and save Lilith, but did they actually HAVE to send Issei all by himself? I mean I don't think any possible spies would noticed just one or two Succubi leaving the city**_ **.**

 **As I said before, Luxuria is a nation that everybody does their best to keep an eye on. Aside from the fact that pretty much any person with a physical attraction to women would like to 'get jiggy with the succubus tiddy', there is also the fact that they are known for being extremely recluse, and for being inextricably connected to Lust itself as a concept. No one knows if they live on Earth, the underworld or anywhere else. No one knows what they're truly capable of, which means that, as far as they're aware, succubi could just one day up and decide to completely drain the world of lust, affecting loads of people. Devils, who are beings of sin, would be some of the beings feeling this the most, alongside beings and entities based around romantic love and lust, such as Aphrodite, Eros, or any other love gods or goddesses; not to mention the effect that this would have on humans, and the fact that this could reveal the existence of the supernatural side of things to mankind.**

 **Of course, no one other than some of the absolute top Succubi such as Laveria know if this is even a possibility, but in ignorance, it's normal for people to feel threatened and react poorly. It's why the view of a single succubus is such a big matter for supernaturals, both the ignorant animals such as the Jotunn from chapter 2 who think only of the immediate possibilities with their bodies, and for the leaders and strategic thinkers up top.**

 **Succubi are very,** _ **very**_ **good at hiding and blending in, which is part of the properties of Tantric Energy, but even they slip up eventually. If they slip up trying to bag a meal, they can just disappear with no trace. What do you think, however, would be the consequences of them being found out invading what pretty much amounts to a military compound, in an attempt to rescue the princess they believed to be there?**

 **Obscurity has it's drawbacks.**

 **2.** _ **(I don't think this will happen but I'm asking anyway) Is Laveria gonna be part of Issei's harem? Because from what I've seen so far they make quite a good couple.**_

 **Well... who knows? The future has much in store, my friend. Perhaps it will happen, perhaps it will not... We'll find out later!**

 **3.** _ **Is Issei gonna leave Xinthia a mewling mess like he did with Bernice? Because useful or not, after such a traininig-slash-torture I know would like to get one over such a 'kind' instructor.**_

 **Refer to the second point for an answer!**

 **Kroz Phantomville says: "This chapter was incredibly frustrating. Issei should have killed Travis by using Explosion instead of horsing around. Why did Jaquiline come to Travis when she knew he could control her? Where the fuck even was Lilith? Why the hell did Issei even come here? This Travis is like a fourth rate villian who keeps running away always. This story was incredibly at the beginning but it became a B rate anime after the kidnapping. The plot hasn't gone anywhere in 3 chapters."**

 **A: There is a reason as to why Issei didn't even attempt to use Explosion, and it was Travis that made it clear himself.**

 _"Surprised, aren't you? Well, this is what the girls down there were for. They're constantly producing_ _ **Tantric Energy**_ _, I keep absorbing it without the effort expended to seduce women, and I store it, and I become stronger."_

 **Was he stronger than Issei at full power? Probably not. However, the continuous increase in power that Travis was going through meant that the minimum amount of power needed to defeat him kept changing, which means that the amount of power given by** _ **[EXPLOSION]**_ **would be different than the amount of power needed to defeat him a second later. By very little, yet different regardless. It's why Issei didn't even attempt to use it.**

 **Jacqueline went to Travis because she was the only guide available to allow Issei to reach him. That, and the fact that all of the shocking events of that day, and her attempts to constantly suppress her sacred gear mean that she was probably not very mentally sound at that exact moment either.**

 **We don't know where Lilith is. Remember, Jade said that Lilith was** _ **believed**_ **to be in that compound, based on the results of the investigation that had to face with components such as time passed, magical decay, sabotage, the enemy covering their tracks, and perhaps even stonewalling, no matter how involuntary, from the Bauxian side of things (** _ **after all, giving unrestricted access to foreigners to peruse the restricted, royal library isn't done at a hat's drop**_ **). So Lilith's absence from there was a definite possibility from the start, and Issei went there for the** _ **possibility**_ **, not a** _ **certainty**_ **, that Lilith would be there, and, in case that she were not, he was supposed to figure out where she actually was.**

 **And Travis constantly running away? That doesn't make him a fourth rate villain. That just makes him a spineless slime. Remember, when Issei managed to beat him in a verbal joust, he stormed off instead of accepting defeat. After he tried to threaten Lilith and Issei intervened, he ran away with his tail tucked between his legs. Now that Issei proved too strong to fight against, and too motivated to try to dissuade, he decided that escaping was the best way to act, and tried to simultaneously destroy two people that he viewed as threats based on their power.**

 **Issei because yeah, he is a definite threat to Travis in all aspects, and Jackie/Hylda because he was unaware of the full extent of her ability, and with Jackie already helping the enemy despite the fact that he 'held the reins' so to speak, who knows when she would turn around and eliminate him?**

 **This isn't him being a bad villain, that's him being consistent in his methods. Sticking around as long as he thinks he's ahead, and leaving when the going gets tough.**

 **Oblivious ninja IJ says: "*Le sigh*... he's still a perv"**

 **A: ...Yes? Is that supposed to be a** _ **bad**_ **thing?**

 **Exis21 says: "Why isn't Issei using Boost?"**

 **A: Because it's a last resort tool. Canon Issei only has the Boosted Gear, so he has no choice other than always use it, and also has the constitution of a devil, so his body can take a higher strain from the gear. This Issei has powers independent of the Boosted Gear's own, powers that each put their individual strain on his own body. Boosting would not only double his base physical condition and human magical power, but it would also double the intensity and power of these other powers... And quadruple the strain. Not cumulatively, mind you, but at an individual level, which is arguably worse.**

 **So you can see why he's not using the Boosted Gear much, it's an absolute last resort.**

 **This ends this chapter's review response corner! If you wish to be included in the future, all you need to do is leave a question down in the Reviews, and it will be adressed.**

 **With that said, we go onwards to the story!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

Hours had passed since Issei first took a step in this snowscape, and still he walked. With shuffling steps, the occasional trip, with ever increasing bouts of wheezing due to accumulated exhaustion and the lack of treatment for his burns from the explosion, anyone seeing him from afar could confuse him for a walking corpse.

However, were one to look him in the eye, they would see nothing other than sheer determination, burning like an unyielding flame, giving his body the ability to move even as his muscles cramped, and his joints clicked, and his bones cracked.

He ignored the cold biting at his skin.

He ignored the cracked, dry lips, closer to a blue coloration by the minute.

He ignored the sensation of being watched, and he just. Kept. Walking.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Various pairs of padded paws treaded the snow at a fast pace. Various mouths and nostrils released small bursts of warm air, causing steam to make itself visible around them in small clouds.

They dashed into a forested area, easily and nimbly dodging trees left and right, until the head of the pack halted, forcing all others to do so.

It lowered it's snout to the snow, sniffing around it, before rearing it's head back.

" **AWOOOOOOOOOOO!** "

It's howl was heard for miles on end, completely silencing the various critters whose noises would remind a present individual that they were in a forest, before said being dashed ahead, having picked up on it's prey's blood, the rest of the pack following.

Having properly gotten the scent of their prey, the beings went into a frenzy, their snow-white fur bristling, their teeth, sharp and long as daggers, gnashing noisily. The noise of their paws crunching the snow underneath them intensified as they forsook stealth for speed, blasting off as fast, if not faster, than most comercially available cars.

They had a target to hunt. They would not fail.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Many hours had passed since Issei had been accidentaly transported to an icy wasteland, and things seemed to not get any better. The sun was about to set, meaning even colder temperatures, his stomach was growling in a desperate request for food, his limbs barely allowed themselves to move, each twitch pushing at the limits of Issei's pain tolerance, all the while carrying a person whose breath was so weak that they could almost be confused for a corpse.

With all of this occuring, the sound of a howl in the distance didn't even faze him. Instead, he kept his focus straight ahead of himself, trying to see as far as he could through the blowing snowstorm, to find a way to survive.

The snow stilled suddenly, allowing Issei to see more than a few feet ahead of himself, a blot of brown color registering in his mind as his erstwhile salvation, before the intense storm resumed, the winds now blowing in the opposite direction, and harsher than before.

Disregarding this, and disregarding his own state, Issei picked up the pace, treading through the knee-high snow the same way one would through mud, each of his steps requiring more energy than regular walking. Yet, despite the pain and exhaustion, Issei kept moving.

And soon, he reached his salvation.

A single-storied cabin, made of wood and stone, in the middle of the woods.

Shifting Jackie/Hylda to his left shoulder, Issei walked up the short steps that led to the cabin's door, trying the handle and, surprisingly, finding it unlocked.

He stopped feeling eyes on his person as soon as he stepped through the threshold of the log cabin, the tickling of a presence at the edge of his detection range vanishing, which allowed him to lose some of the tension that was on his shoulders.

He closed the door behind him, protecting both himself and Jackie/Hylda from the continued snowstorm, before looking around the cabin itself.

He saw a pelt on the middle of something resembling a living room, right in front of a fireplace on one side, and a wooden table, which was where he set his erstwhile companion down.

There was some wood set beside the fireplace, so Issei grabbed a few of the logs and tossed them inside, before focusing his already strained magic, releasing a spark towards the wood and causing it to light up with a small flame, which he fostered by blowing and fanning. Soon enough the cabin was lit with a warm orange glow, keeping the cold bite of winter away from Issei and Jackie/Hylda, causing the girl's lips to lose some of the bluish tone they had been building up, and causing her breathing to become slightly less strained and weak.

Still stumbling around weakly, Issei looked throughout the entire cabin, finding the kitchen and toilet/shower room/lavatory on the same floor as the living room, a few bedrooms on the 1st story, and a basement, the walls lined with various forms of piping, most of theam leading to a furnace.

Axes, shovels, machetes, heavy coats and a crossbow and arrows were also arrayed around the basement, as were hooks with hanging, dried meat, water bottles and canned foods, from beans to vegetables.

' _Holy shit... We stumbled into the home of some sort of survivalist, or wildman, or something!_ '

Shrugging those thoughts aside, Issei put on a heavy jacket, as well as grab a second one for Jackie, a few cans of food , water bottles, a big hunting knife and a few cuts of dry meat, taking them all up to the living room.

He placed the jacket on the back of a chair and the rest on top of the table, going back into the bathroom and raiding the medicine cabinet. He got a few bottles of painkillers, bandages and disinfectant, taking them back to the living room.

Next, came the fun-... _Hard_ part.

Completely pushing away any thoughts of perversion, Issei slowly and steadily undressed his unconscious companion, grimacing at the bloody mess underneath her clothes.

He wiped her down completely, his gaze not even lingering on her fun bits, before bandaging her up, using a roll or two of gauze too many in order to cover her parts.

With that done, Issei covered her with the other heavy coat that he had gotten from the basement, before going back into the kitchen and giving it a proper look.

He saw a wood-burning stove below and to the left of a closed window, a few cabinets that had both wooden and ceramic bowls and plates, with metal cuttlery, a myriad of cooking utensils such as a cast iron skillet, and a few pots and pans.

There were also spices and dried herbs.

Not feeling capable of doing much with any of that at the moment, Issei took off his shirt, wincing at the burning pain from his back, before using the antiseptic spray that he had found on as much of himself as possible.

He managed to do it noiselessly despite the pain, mostly due to Xinthia's pain tolerance training, before bandaging as much of his body as he could. Having finished that, Issei popped open a can of tuna, alternating between it and the slices of dried meat, with the occasional pull from a water bottle added to the mix.

His injuries treated and his hunger and thirst sated, Issei ambled back to the main room area, lied down on the pelt at an arm's length from Jackie/Hylda, and allowed himself to finally succumb to an exhuasted sleep.

 _ **~oOo~**_

They stopped and sniffed the air, before the leader of the pack growled something at the rest of the group. He then proceeded to howl, prompting the others around him to do the same, before the group turned back the way they had come from.

Their prey had eluded them for the time being.

But they would return. They always did.

 _ **~oOo~**_

' _I fucking hate my biological clock._ '

Issei got up from the ground he had slept on with this specific thought in mind, stretching his back as far as his aches and sores would allow him to, before taking stock of the room around him.

The firewood he added to the fireplace had burnt itself out completely, leaving the room mostly in darkness with the exception of a scant few beams of light that made it through the windows.

He got up to his feet, heading towards the bathroom to relieve himself, mentally praising and thanking the owner/builder of this place for believing in functional piping instead of being the 'outside latrine' type of guy.

Having finished relieving himself, Issei decided to finally explore the upstairs section of the home fully.

He found what seemed to be a master bedroom, with a queen-sized bed, two headstands, a dresser with an embedded mirror, and an attached shoe compartment.

Looking through them, Issei found both male and female clothes in varying sizes and styles, though all of them mantaining a common aspect which was the thick fabric they were made of, more than likely for preserving heat. Other than some dust, creases and a few spiders, all of the clothes seemed usable ( _After a good wash at least_ ).

He got a set of clothes for Hylda, underwear included, before going off to explore the other rooms.

One of them was full of things such as rugs, animal pelts, blankets and towels, another one was a bigger bathroom than the one at the ground floor, with an actual bathtub, and the last room was... and oddity.

It was spacious, the walls arrayed with shelves covered in a myriad of books. From floor to ceiling, from wall to wall, everywhere one looked there were books, with the exception of a window on the far side of the room that allowed light in.

Issei's eyes narrowed, this was the 4th room that was seemingly empty for a good while, but it wasn't musty at all. Thinking back on things, Issei noticed even more oddities.

There were no pests in the places that one would expect there to be, such as the kitchen, that had spices and dried herbs, and the basement, that had proper insulation and meat. None of the furniture that Issei had come about seemed to be dusty, dirty, rusted over or worn down from age in any manner.

The only things that showed signs of actual aging were the objects within the master bedroom. And how would a rustic-looking house like this have a functioning water system during winter? Even if there were some pipes rigged to lead to and from some well, or underground reservoir or something of the sort, at least sections of the pipes would freeze over during the winter, especially since there was an intense snowstorm less than two days ago, meaning that the water should be unable to flow into the house, or into any tap. Hell, the toilet shouldn't be flushing!

Plus, there were other details that Issei overlooked in his hurry to get himself and Hylda patched up, and in living conditions.

The wood stove in the kitchen, and the furnace in the basement did not have any exhaust pipes. Any smoke produced from their burning should be filling the house, but it didn't.

' _This place... It's a magical home! But who are the owners? And more importantly... Where are they?_ '

All of these thoughts moved through Issei's mind as he made his way downstairs, the clothes that he had picked aside for Hylda over his shoulder and ready for a small sink-washing session.

' _Their clothes and books are all here and undisturbed, so it's unlikely that they decided to suddenly move away..._ '

He rummaged around the cupboards, finding a sink plug and a box of powdered detergent. Making use of both, Issei filled the sink with water and diluted a fair amount of detergent inside, before putting the clothes he had separated for Hylda inside and allowing them to go for a good soak.

With that done, Issei decided to check on Hylda and see if she needed a change in bandages. He went back into the main room and got beside her, only for his eyes to narrow at the redness of her face.

He placed his hand on her forehead, his eyes widening at what he felt.

' _She's burning up!_ '

Leaning his face close to her face allowed him to notice the fact that her breaths were quick and shallow, and interspersed with some coughs.

He reacted by going down to the basement for a bucket, going to the kitchen and filling said bucket in the sink, getting a rag and then returning to Hylda's side. He dipped the rag on the bucket of waterm wringing out the excess before placing it on top of her forehead.

With that done he tried to figure out the next step to take.

' _What did mom do when I was sick a couple of years ago? The moist rag is there, I need to change it every few hours I think, other than that... Soup! She fed me soup, and lots of water. There was also medicine, but where can I find medicine in the middle of a fucking tundra? No, Issei, don't go there... Focus on what you can change, leave what you can't aside._ '

With that thought in mind he went into the kitchen and raided the cupboards for anything usable. He found a small stock of firewood, some cast iron pots, pans and utensils, wooden bowls, some dry herbs and powdered spices.

He stocked the stove with wood and ignited it with a small spark of electricity, allowing the fire to really get going before placing a pot full of water to boil. With that done, he went down to the basement and got a few of the canned vegetables there and a few strips of the dried and salted meat.

Returning to the kitchen, Issei just added things things to the pot haphazardly, not really having any previous cooking experience, and having only guesses and hunches guiding him.

' _Vegetables are a staple for any healthy food, the meat will give protein, and the salt from it will make the soup not be bland... Ah screw it!_ '

Having added a little bit of everything to the pot of boiling water, Issei went back to the main room to thoroughly check on Hylda. He removed the coat she was using as a blanket, his eyes widening at the fact that her bandages were noticeably blody.

' _Shit, things seem to keep getting worse... I can't move her because it'll aggravate her injuries, which means I can't take her to the only bed in this place, plus the dust there would probably cause her some sort of infection. I'll have to use up wood to keep this place warm and to cook for her, but I can't really go out to get more because her condition could suddenly worsen... FUCK! Things weren't supposed to go this way! I was supposed to get there, kick ass and save Lilith! Why do things always have to get more complicated than needed?_ '

The brunette shook his head free of those thoughts, before going to the downstairs bathroom for more bandages to replace Hylda's current ones with.

Issei changed her bandages as slowly and carefully as possible in order not to aggravate her wounds, before covering her with the heavy coat again and feeding some wood into the fireplace to keep the house warm.

He headed back to the kitchen, retrieving the 'soup' from the fire and pouring it into two bowls. One he set aside for himself, the other one he took to the main room.

He placed it next to Hylda's face, before speaking.

"You can stop pretending to be unconscious now."

The - currently - redhead shifted lightly, the difficulty in her motions noticeable, before turning towards Issei, a faint smile on her face as she spoke in a weak, tired tone.

" _How long... Have you known... I was awake_?"

"You tried emphasizing your chest when I was changing your bandages."

He weak smile turned into a slight smirk as she responded.

" _E...njoyed it?_ "

Issei leaned forward, taking the damp cloth from her forehead and dunking it in the bucket of water, wringing out the excess before placing it back on her forehead, even as he spoke.

"Wasn't really in the frame of mind to enjoy your breasts while treating your wounds. You really fucked yourself up with your power."

As he spoke, Issei moved closer to Hylda and placed a hand underneath her back, bracing her before slowly helping her sit up. He propped her up against one of the cabin's walls, the fur coat covering her legs still, before grabbing the soup and moving close to her. He loaded up a spoonful before directing it to her lips.

Hylda rolled her eyes before allowing Issei to feed her, her face thoughtful as she chewed on a bit of onion, before smacking her lips.

" _You're a terrible cook._ "

"Yeah, well I'm sure you could do better with literal zero years of experience and no fresh ingredients to work with. Just eat the damn soup."

" _Touchy, aren't we?_ "

"I have a good reason to be. If you didn't notice, I kind of failed to do the one thing I intended to do back at that castle whatever."

" _...Then why help me? Travis couldn't have taken you on even in his dreams, I was the one that kept you from getting to him. Why put in the effort to help me? Why not just leave me out to die?_ "

"Because you helped me. You guided me, helped me go where I wanted to while avoiding any alarms, and you led me straight to Travis. You did all of those things even when you didn't need to. So... I'd feel pretty shitty if I were to just abandon you afterwards."

" _I... didn't help you... Jackie did._ "

"The two of you are the same person, though."

Hylda went completely quiet at that, causing Issei to shrug, before feeding her the rest of the soup in silence.

After he finished feeding her, Issei helped her lie back down, moistened the rag on her forehead again, and then covered her completely with the coat, allowing the visibly exhausted girl to go back to rest, before going to the kitchen and having his own - cold - soup.

After finishing the soup - _and it really did suck, Hylda was right about that_ \- Issei went back upstairs in order to figure out what happened to the original owners of the cabin, and to see if he could find a way to leave that place and return to Luxuria.

His first stop was the bedroom, which he all but turned upside-down as he looked for even a scrap of information, finding only a piece of paper in one of the drawers of the bedside tables bearing only a pair of words.

" ' _They Lied_ '. How ominous... Huh, **Ddraig**?"

' **Indeed. So... How long did it take you to remember that I was here?** '

"...Longer than I'm proud to say."

' **You're an idiot.** '

"Hey, cut me some slack! I was hyperfocused on not dying, and on saving Lilith! Everything else just happened in the moment, y'know? Plus, with Hylda's fever, and me having to cook, I'm sure that I earn a huge fucking pass for my lapse of memory."

' **Jeez, kid, I was just joking. Didn't expect you to be this affected.** '

"...Sorry, I'm just stressed out, and unloading onto you."

' **Understandable.** '

"So... You know of any way to get us out of here and back to Luxuria?"

' **I didn't even know for sure that Luxuria existed up until a few weeks ago, why do you expect me to know how to get there?** '

"Yeah, stupid question."

' **You could ask the crazy blood girl for help.** '

"Not at the moment, and especially not with anything related to magic. She's really fucked up from our fight, and the explosion afterwards."

' **You say that as if it were not the same for you.** '

"I just got hit with a bit of the explosion, it's nothing major, I'll just walk it off."

' **It's not major my scaly ass. You've got burns on your back, strained muscles around your body from the stress, and shot nerves from the overuse of the Eagle of Victory's powers. I was watching everything you did in that castle/compound/whatever, and I saw you pushing your body beyond anything it had ever done before.** '

Ddraig could sense Issei's unwillingness to concede the point, so he decided to go through another track.

' **If you keep pushing as much as you do without resting you're going to fall apart. If that happens, then who saves Lilith?** '

The brunette clicked his teeth in irritation, before speaking.

"Ok, you're right. What do you expect me to do, though?"

' **Rest. Eat, sleep, rinse and repeat until you're not as weak as when you first found the boosted gear. By Ophis, a stiff breeze would knock you over right now!** '

"..."

The brunette, having no real argument to dispute Ddraig's words, went back downstairs and, after a drink of bottled water, covered himself in a coat before laying beside Hylda near the fireplace, then allowed his exhaustion to catch up to him.

 _ **~oOo~**_

The pack had found themselves a good resting place as they waited out their prey. Their prey seemed to have found a den of their own, something which would make it more troublesome to get them. It was easier to allow them to wander from their den and pick them out at that moment.

So the pack lied in wait.

 _ **~3 days later~**_

Issei frowned as he tossed another log into the fireplace, before speaking up.

"We're almost out of firewood. I'll have to go out and get more otherwise we'll be freezing here, and without any hot meals..."

Issei's gaze turned towards the sleeping Hylda, before his brow furrowed worriedly. After three days of resting, eating and having her bandages taken care of her condition had improved, but she still wasn't in a state in which a sudden downswing wasn't a possibility.

' _Leaving her at this moment is dangerous, but running out of firewood would be worse... I'll just have to go out there and hope for the best until I return._ '

He went to the basement to collect whatever he would need to get wood, and he ended up outfitting himself with a heavy coat and fur boots, an axe that he attached to his belt, some rope and a crossbow, with a quiver full of steel-tipped arrows strapped across his back.

' _I don't know if there are any dangerous critters around, but if there are it's good to have a way to take care of them without stressing my body even further. I can still feel some of the injuries to my back opening when I move in certain ways._ '

Fully kitted, Issei went back up the stairs to the main room, checked on Hylda and re-moistened the rag for her forehead, before leaving the cabin and heading towards the group of trees he could see in the distance.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Hylda's eyes opened as soon as the door closed behind Issei, before she gingerly sat herself up. She recovered from her injuries fast, faster than she ever expected to do so, and she had a hunch that it had something to do with the food that Issei cooked, no matter how foul it tasted.

Regardless of reason, the end result was the fact that she was already capable of changing positions, sitting up without any support, and actually eating on her own. Pretty soon she should get to a state in which both her and Issei could avoid the embarrassment and awkwardness that popped up whenever she needed to use the bathroom.

' _I'm sure he'll be glad when I tell him about this._ '

A sudden thought then popped up in Hylda's mind.

' _Should I even tell him about my recovery? I mean... We were enemies until very soon, and he could just be taking care of me as part of a plan of some sort. That means that disposing of him before he could do the same to me is paramount..._ '

These thoughts, however, made Hylda's stomach roil in an unfamiliar way.

' _What is this? Is my cold getting worse again? I guess I'll take the time that he's out to rest further, and I'll take care of him tonight, after he falls asleep._ '

With that in mind Hylda covered herself up and closed her eyes, yet the roiling feeling in her stomach wouldn't disappear for the rest of the day, even in her sleep.

 _ **~oOo~**_

The walk through the forest wasn't easy on Issei. Between the almost waist-high snow, the biting cold, his still recovering body and his worried, unsettled mind, it was a damn miracle that Issei didn't take a wrong turn and fall off a cliff or something of the sort.

He stopped in front of an adequately sized tree, taking hold of the axe with his right hand before resting the back of the axe head on his shoulder.

' _I think I saw a show about loggers when I was younger. Let's see, if I remember correctly..._ '

He hefted the axe over his head, his hand gripping the handle tightly in order not to have it fly off into the woods, before he swung, the blade of the axe lightly sinking into the bark of the tree and getting stuck there, forcing Issei to plant a foot against the tree in order to wrench it out, before looking the edge over.

' _What was that about? The blade isn't rusted or blunt, so why didn't it cut properly? Why did it get stuck? What did I do wrong?_ '

He looked over the tree itself, before a memory floated through his mind.

 _"Instead of cutting a tree horizontally, which takes much more effort and wears your tools out faster, it's best to chop at an oblique angle, and persist at it. You'll have to exert less strength, and by the time you're done, you'll know towards where the tree is going to fall."_

His eyes widening at that, Issei angled himself diferently before raising the axe again, and delivering a slanted slash at the tree, feeling the axe sinking in with almost no resistance. He pulled the axe back with nowhere near as much effort as he had during the first slash, before persisting on the oblique cut, again and again, until the tree started falling towards him.

Issei widened his stance and caught the log on his shoulder, hissing at the pain that the falling tree elicited before tying one end of the rope around it and the other around his waist, and then proceeded towards another tree.

He stopped mid-swing as the sound of crunching snow reached his ears even as movement registered on the edge of his awareness.

Lowering the axe and attacking it to one of his belt loops, Issei slowly worked on unstrapping the crossbow from behind him, one of the arrows already loaded, before rapidly turning and firing into the area where the noise had come from.

He heard a meaty 'thwack!' of the arrow meeting flesh, strapping the crossbow back over his shoulder and grabbing the axe, purple veins appearing on the blade as he pushed **Tantric Energy** towards it in the form of a **Reinforcement** , before he cautiosly moved towards the target her had hit.

Pushing aside a bush, Issei was met with the presence of a puddle of blood, with his arrow on top of it, and no body whatsoever. A small trail of blood led away from the bigger puddle, but it disappeared shortly afterwards.

Frowning seriosly, Issei picked up the arrow and placed it back within the quiver, before returning to his trees. Instead of trying to chop any more down, or to drag them via rope, something which he knew left tracks, Issei enhanced his body, shouldered the trees and then ran back towards the cabin fast enough for his feet not to sink into the snow, leaving almost no trace of his presence there.

He was sweating copiously by the time he reached the cabin, dropping the logs right outside before folding over and coughing out a good gob of blood onto the snow.

' **You stressed your body too much.** '

' _I know, Ddraig, but it was the best option. I forgot this after all this time, but before I reached the cabin, I felt as if I were being watched. It's likely that something or someone wants to kill me and/or Hylda._ '

' **Just keep in mind that your body has limits, and that ignoring them will lead you to an early grave.** '

Smirking inwardly, Issei mentally responded.

' _Gee, Ddraig, I didn't know you cared this much._ '

' **I don't, really. I just believe that it'd be a waste for someone as... let's say talented, as you to die before they can really learn to use the Boosted Gear.** '

' _Or you're just being a Tsundere._ '

Ddraig responded simply by huffing, before settling down to sleep, causing Issei to chuckle even as he used his sleeve to wipe the blood off of his mouth and chin.

His face once again becoming serious, Issei closed his eyes and expanded his senses as much as he could, only for them to give no signals of danger. With that check done, Issei's awareness lowered slightly into simply 'Mildly Cautious', before he started working on chopping the logs down into smaller sizes, then splitting them, for firewood.

Having finished all of this, Issei made a net with the rope at hand and used it to bunch together all of the split wood before entering the cabin.

 _ **~oOo~**_

" _Why do you smell like blood?_ "

Hylda's question reached Issei as soon as he walked into the cabin, causing him to stop mid-step and blink owlishly, before his brain finally managed to translate the question and craft a response.

"Oh, I shot at something in the woods with the crossbow and grazed it. I found the arrow in the middle of a puddle of blood. That's probably what you're smelling."

Hylda eyed Issei suspiciously, looking him up and down and finding nothing off about him.

"Okay, I guess. By the way, Issei... I could really use a bath."

Issei's eyes widened at that.

 _ **~oOo~**_

A few hours had passed since Issei and Hylda had 'gone to bed', and Hylda was still awake, a myriad of thoughts going through her mind.

' _He goes out for a few hours, then returns smelling of blood, but with no injuries? He takes care of me despite the fact that I'm an enemy, and he doesn't even try to take advantage of the times that he had me naked and helpless, not even once? That's too suspicious. No-one is that good of a person. He must be planning something... But I'm going to beat him at his game!_ '

Hylda stood up, a slow, painful, yet silent action that left her on shaky legs, before raising both of her hands above her head.

A split opened on her lip before a small cloud of blood coalesced into a blade within her grasp, before she walked towards Issei, whose back was turned to her.

She aimed for his throat, her eyes narrowing before she struck...

Before her hands stopped, with the blade just a couple of inches away from Issei's throat, and a heavy feeling in her stomach.

' _My cold's acting up again? Now?_ '

Taking a deep breath, Hylda raised her blade again, aiming for Issei's throat, before she froze.

The feeling in her stomach intensified further, while her hands started shaking.

' _What's wrong with me? I... This should be easy! Why can't I do it?_ '

She focused as hard as she could and tried to get her hands to do what she ordered them to, but that only resulted in her hands shaking , the heavy feeling in her stomach threatening to engulf her completely. She tried to force her way through this, but every time she thought of just killing Issei, a heavy feeling of nausea hit her.

Her eyes started welling up with tears, tears which she furiously tried to wipe away with her arm, yet they wouldn't stop coming. Her legs started shaking as well, both from a mixture of her injuries and this new feeling that was engulfing her.

She fell on her behind as her legs completely lost their strength, with tears streaming down her face, and an extremely horrible feeling welling in her chest. Her blade dispersed, floating back into her body in the form of blood, before she dragged her crying and shaking form towards Issei, and hugged him from behind, as tightly as she could. A few seconds afterwards, Hylda had fallen asleep.

Issei's eyes cracked open lightly at that, the brunette letting out a sigh at that, before Ddraig spoke directly into Issei's mind.

' _ **You do know that what you did, allowing her a free blow like that, was extremely reckless, right?**_ '

'She wouldn't have hurt me.'

' _ **How could you be so sure of this?**_ '

'I already said this before, she's a good person. Someone who's not a good person wouldn't have helped me voluntarily like she did, at risk of her own person.'

' _ **You just love gambling with your life every 15 minutes, don't you? Idiot.**_ '

'Watch out, Ddraig, your Tsun-tsun is showing!'

The red dragon grunted, before going back to sleep inside the **Boosted Gear** , soothed by dreams of explosions, and even bigger explosions.

Issei could only chuckle, before Hylda shifted, causing a blush to tinge his cheeks and a perverted giggle to go past his lips.

' _Soft and bouncy..._ '

With those pleasant thoughts, Issei allowed himself to drift off into oblivion.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei could only frown in a mixture of worry and consternation as he looked down at the visibly ill Hylda. Her fever had gone up, and other than moist rags and hot soup, there was nothing he could do for her.

She had stabilized after what he reconned were continuous hours of getting worse and worse, but Issei was still worried. At the rate thigns were going, she could die at any moment.

Knowing that he could do nothing for her at the moment, Issei decided to check out the library, to check if there were any books on medicinal herbs, or healing magic, or something that could heal Hylda, and help him find Lilith.

 _ **~oOo~**_

After three days of going back and forth between taking care of Hylda, getting wood to keep the fires going and searching for any useful books in the library, Issei's condition was declining. The lack of rest and the immense amount of effort, both physical in taking down the trees with his not-at-all healed injuries, and the mental in spending hour after hour reading or taking care of Hylda with little rest had Issei on the brink of collapse, something which he knew would likely spell the doom of himself, Hylda, and, most importantly, Lilith.

Pacing around the small library, desperatly searching for some book to help in his endeavors, Issei was surprised when it suddenly hit him.

As in, a book literally fell from one of the higher shelves onto his head.

He cursed at his continued misfortune before his eyes fell on the title of the book.

" _Searching beyond your gaze: Divination for Dummies._ "

With little to lose, Issei opened the book to a random page, only for the very first passage of the book to cause his eyes to widen tremendously in surprise.

" _Divination magic is very useful in acquiring information of events and locations past, present and future. In order to properly utilize Divination-based magic, all one has to do is to establish communication with a being or deity possessing any divination-related aspect, such as fortune telling or prophecies, via a magical circle. A small tribute is taken from the summoner in exchange for the information provided, though the deities are known to occasionally waive this requirement if they particularly favor the one attempting to use their power._ "

' _This is exactly what I needed! I can get information on how to reach Luxuria to get myself and Hylda properly healed, then ask for information on Lilith's actual whereabouts! I just need to work on crafting the ritual circle!_ '

Ddraig could only frown from within the _**Boosted Gear**_ , torn between the desire to warn his host that nothing good tends to come from bartering with gods, and the knowledge that he'd go ahead and do whatever he felt like anyway.

 _ **~oOo~**_

After a last check of his gear, including crossbow and arrows, axe, the book detailing what he would need to collect and a few jars to store ingredients, Issei gave Hylda one last worried look, before leaving the cabin.

He went back into the woods he was collecting firewood from, his head on a swivel for the needed ingredients. He spotted a bundle of herbs that the book detailed, pulling them by the root as detailed in the book, before collecting the sap of a few different trees.

A few hours of hunting for ingredients later, Issei was done. He had everything he needed. He put away the ingredients he had collected within his coat, before his senses registered a presence a short distance away. This presence wouldn't usually be a match for him, but as weakened as he was, it was enough to take him down in case of direct conflict.

So, instead of going for direct conflict, Issei decided to fight indirectly. He climbed up one of the trees before focusing towards the source of the twinge in his awareness, being greeted only with a splash of moving white and a pair of red eyes, that then vanished into the undergrowth.

Issei drew the crossbow and aimed it towards the general area in which he felt the danger before firing, being rewarded with a howl of pain for his efforts. This howl of pain turned into one of rage, and Issei's eyes widened as he watched a series of trees getting knocked down in a straight line towards him, forcing him to jump to another tree.

His attacker followed after Issei, forcing him to keep jumping between branches, his eyes always fighting to detect the smallest amount of motion possible, if just to have some forewarning for when he had to jump.

Hearing the crunch of snow somewhere to the left and below him, Issei rapidly took aim and fired, the sound of even more pained howling reaching his ears, yet he couldn't count it as a victory. His breath was shallow from the exertion, showing just how damaged he truly was, and his back and shoulder hurt from improper and incomplete healing, meaning that it was unlikely that he'd be able to win this fight. This led to a single rational response, escaping.

Issei jumped away from the tree he was on as hard as he could before going full-tilt on his sprint, with the sound of crunching snow making him aware that his attacker was in hot pursuit.

The sun had started setting, causing his pursuer to turn more franctic in it's efforts, making it so that while Issei did his best to dodge and manouver around trees, the pursuer only worried about knocking them down non-stop.

Hope blossomed within Issei's chest as he saw the edge of the woods, before a wooden log nearly slammed into him, clipping his shoulder and knocking him to the ground. Ignoring the painful throb in his shoulder, Issei hopped back onto his feet, feeling the presence of his pursuer approaching, it's bloodlust bearing down on Issei in the manner of a ravenous beast.

The brunette could almost feel it's warm, fetid breath on the back of his neck from the proximity it had gained, the sound of displaced air being followed up on by Issei being thrown out of the forest from the strength of the blow, with a new set of injuries on his back probably delivered by claws.

He turned over onto his back, aiming both his boosted gear and crossbow at the forest, only for a sound similar to a heavy object slamming into a massive gong to echo throughout the forest and reverberate to his bones, a massive flare of light hurting his eyes and forcing him to narrow them, completely obscuring the figure of his pursuer.

Looking up, Issei noticed a light blue colored dome had been erected over the area he was in, from just outside the forest, and englobing the cabin he and Hylda had been staying in.

' _Defensive wards... That's probably why I felt the attention of this thing leave me when I first reached the cabin..._ '

The pursuer seemed to give up after a few more attempts at breaching the wards, causing the flares of light to stop, and allowing Issei to actually see a pair of red eyes receding into the forest before vanishing completely, swallowed by the menacing darkness.

' _So we're safe from this thing as long as we're within the cabin, or within a certain distance of it..._ '

Letting out a breath of relief at that discovery, Issei dragged his bleeding self back into the cabin. He spared a look at the sleeping Hylda before going down to the basement and placing all of the collected ingredients down there. He dragged himself back upstairs, pouring a full bottle of rubbing alcohol over his own back in order to disinfect the injury, stifling his pained grunt before wrapping himself up with bandages.

Having done that, he went back up into the library and checked the book's instructions.

" _The major divination invocation is a very power-intensive ritual, so it is highly suggested for the one attempting it to do it at a moment in which their power is at it's apex, or when there is an overflowing source donating the energy. The best times to perform the ritual are at either sunset or sunrise, due to the symbology inherent to those two events._

 _Sunset is the time period in which the illuminating rays of the sun last shed their light upon the land as the sun itself gradually sets, giving way for the stars in the night sky, which are - and rightly so - associated with guidance, having been the preferential method of navigation for sailors, travellers and nomads througout the ages, a handy method of fortune telling for those with abilities so inclined, and, in some cultures, the stars of the night sky are even believed to some kind of universal 'table of events', holding information about all events, past, present and future._

 _Sunrise is a bit of the opposite paradigm, instead of completely depending on the stars to grant one information they were unaware of, the sun's rays shedding light upon the earth represent the illumination of the possible paths one can take. It is a time period associated with guidance, and the imparting of wisdom more so than information, helping individuals make correct decisions based on knowledge that they already possess, instead of granting them new knowledge..._ "

' _So I have to recover and build up as much energy as I can, wait until the sun starts setting and then perform the ritual... Since this type of magic can give you information that you wish to have, once me and Hylda get to Luxuria and fully recover, I could use it in order to find out Lilith's exact location!_ '

With that information at hand, Issei allowed himself to rest, already planning for the occasion.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Growls, howls and cries filled the night air as the injured hunter informed their brethren of their prey's weakness. The prey itself released a stench of blood and weakness, while a foreign smell of disease, ever intensifying and closer to death, hung around it as well.

The being conveyed upon it's brethren the fact that the prey was unable to even defend itself, being saved only by some sort of boundary, and that it was likely that they could entrap it by keeping the group at the edge of said boundary, waiting for their target to step foot outside of the protected area to finally devour it.

The group did not hesitate. They moved as one, heading towards the forest in order to lie in wait. It had been a long time since they last ate good food, and they would not allow this opportunity to pass them by.

Ungodly pairs of red eyes lit up the dark night in a nightmarish manner, promising blood, violence and death.

 _ **~2 days later~**_

Issei had wanted to wait until he was fully recovered, but a sudden downswing in Hylda's health forced him to rush up his plans. At the rate her health had been decaying, Issei was sure that she wouldn't manage two more days without medical aid. With those thoughts in mind, the brunette looked out of the window, noticing the slanted golden tint that colored the snow and the forest in the distance, signaling the fact that the sun was just about to set.

Nodding to himself, Issei went down to the basement, his eyes heading straight to the complicated magical circle that he had drawn on the ground with a mixture of water, ground herbs and some of his blood.

It took some time and effort, as he had no measuring tools to ensure perfection, so he had to freehand it, but Issei managed to make it look exactly as the book made it look like. Despite that, he gave the circle one final once-over, verifying that there was no line out of place, no figure out of focus, and no fudged numbers.

Satisfied with the final result, the brunette closed the book he had been using as comparison and put it aside, before kneeling before the circle. He closed his eyes and completely relaxed the control that he had over his powers, allowing them to suffuse his body and stop just before the point that it was painful, before slamming the palm of his gauntleted hand onto the center of the circle and pushing.

A light golden glow illuminated the basement, while Issei felt his power being siphoned from him to a painful level. However, instead of giving up, or allowing himself to fall unconscious, he marshalled even more of his power, and he _Pushed_.

The light glow started becoming more and more intense, as did the magic drain on Issei. He could feel himself slipping closer to unconsciousness, before a headache started developing from the back of his head. It grew gradually, until a sharp spike of pain on the top of the head caused Issei's eyes to roll back, even as information slammed into his brain.

Images and sounds assaulted his mind, as if someone were engraving them into his brain with an ice pick.

 _ **~oOo~**_

 _A young couple, going out on their first date._

 _A few years later and they had moved in together._

 _A wedding, and their first home._

 _The seemingly impossible struggle for children that threatened to break their spirits._

 _The joy of discovering that their latest attempt at a child had taken, and the look of sheer happiness on the faces of husband and wife._

 _The nerve-wracking process that is childbirth._

 _Seeing his first child, his son, in his wife's arms, and her smile of happiness. Taking his newborn son into his arms for the first time, and falling in love all over again._

 _The news that they would never be able to have any more children, that they took better than they would have before. After all, they already had their beautiful little Aiden, the center of their world. Their life was perfect._

 _The first trip home, and the trying first months._

 _Waking up in the middle of the night due to the babie's cries, going to work absolutely tired, and returning home as a shambling corpse, yet feeling his energy returning at the sight of his beautiful wife rocking their baby to sleep, and the smiles on both their faces._

 _The sheer horror that was waking up to the sound of shattered windows, only to notice a complete absence of a child's cries._

 _Telling the police that the only thing you could remember was white fur and a pair of red eyes, and being told that he was suffering a stress-induced delusion._

 _Convincing his wife of what he saw, deciding to find their child no matter the cost._

 _Selling their home and everything they owned to create capital to invest in the search for answers._

 _Finding answers in the most unlikely form possible: supernatural acts._

 _Following through with the investigation to the utmost end, amassing a wealth of information about the supernatural world, and the possible whereabouts of their child._

 _Building a house in a remote part of the swiss alps, hidden from humanity by magic, as the clues led them there._

 _Hunting after the killers of his child alongside his wife, only for her to die right in front of him, before the filthy beasts slowly tore him apart, relishing in his screams of both pain and anguish._

 _Using his dying breath and the remains of his life force to erect a magical barrier on the land around the cabin, turning it into an eternal sanctuary for their family after it's tragic fate._

 _ **~oOo~**_

A sudden gasp left Issei's body as he returned to full consciousness, with the final images that imprinted themselves into the back of his eyelids to never disappear being a purple-colored magical circle that he knew to be a transportation circle, and a circle with the word ' _ **XOCHIQUETZAL**_ ' in the middle.

After those two images imprinted themselves into his brain in a permanent manner, Issei felt a surge of energy coming from the circle itself, before he was thrown away from it and slammed hard into one of the basement's walls, having his breath knocked out of him.

He watched the circle light up an even brighter gold, before massive archs of electricity started emerging from it as if they were tendrils, and crawling through the ground and up the walls of the cabin.

The brunette, noticing this, ran upstairs to the main room, having only the time to grab a hunting knife, an axe and a pair of heavy coats, before grabbing Hylda, wrapping her in one of the coats, before leaving the cabin.

Looking back at the house, Issei watched the golden tendrils of electricity completely cover it before shooting upwards, seemingly slamming into something solid. A blue dome became visible, something that Issei was aware to be a physical representation of the wards that previously protected the cabin, before the tendrils started traveling through the entire length of the dome, and, with the sound of shattering glass, the entire ward structure collapsed.

As soon as this happened, Issei could hear growls coming from the woods, with pairs of red eyes cutting through the dark that had completely swallowed the mountainside that he now knew to be on.

' _ **Nocturnal.**_ '

His eyes lit up with a purple glow before the darkness of night faded, allowing him to see in the dark as he normally would during the day, and to see the source of the noise.

And it wasn't a pretty sight.

Big beings, 7 feet tall at least, with simian-like facial features, sharp, shark-like serrated teeth and long dog-like ears. The body was a mismatched thing, with long arms, lanky-looking in relation to the rest of the frame, that hung almost all the way to the ground. The body was thick and extremely muscular, packing high amounts of power, while the legs were short and thick, somewhat like a gorilla's, but even smaller and thicker, all of this covered in a thick layer of white fur, with a pair of red eyes sticking out sorely by contrast.

However, unlike gorillas, these things seemed to not make it a habit to use their arms to walk, doing so easily on their hind legs alone. These beings used this to their advantage, arming themselves with massive clubs made of stone, wood, bone, or a mixture of the three.

A band of no less than 10 had emerged from the forest, each of them emanating enough bloodlust on their own to scare off a band of lions.

' _Shit... I used up a good chunk of my power in the ritual circle, so I don't have enough juice to make the jump straight to Luxuria with Hylda. WIth the information that I gained, I know that trying to make that trip as I am would more than likely lead to our parts being scattered along the way, on a permanent basis. The only solution is to fight them, even while covering for Hylda._ '

Having reached that conclusion, Issei raised his fists into a fighting stance, a spark of electricity covering his body and causing the snow under his feet to melt. He narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze on the group of monsters - Yeti, his new knowledge told him they were called - before he released as much of his own _**Pressure**_ as he could, aiming it at them and causing them to freeze in place for an instant at the draconic undertone they could feel. It was as if a massive pair of draconic eyes were staring at them from behind Issei.

This brief instance of terror vanished when their noses picked up the scent of disease and death growing more and more, turning it into caution and apprehension instead. The group spread around Issei, closing off any direction that he could use to escape with the exception of the forest, knowing that they could maneuver it better than their prey.

The brunette kept his head positioned so that he could face as many of the animals at the same time as possible, while his other senses, both natural and supernatural, kept track of the ones outside of his field of vision, their hunger and bloodthirst turning them into veritable beacons.

One of the Yeti started moving forward, testing Issei's boundaries, only to be met with a blast of electricity to the chest, pushing it a few feet away from it's starting position and drawing a screech of pain from it, while the smell of burnt flesh and fur seemed to galvanize the other Yeti, the knowledge that one of them had been hurt by their prey slowly but gradually whipping them into a frenzy.

Two of them dashed at Issei, one of the cocking back a club made of wood and stone and the other one a club made of bone, even as the rest of them slammed their fists, clubs and feet on the ground over and over in a frenzy, before the two swung simultaneously.

Knowing that Hylda was underneath him and that dodging would mean her dying, Issei planted his feet as hard into the ground as he could, _**Reinforced**_ his right fist and simultaneously punched at the two weapons, forcing the two Yeti back from the shockwave of the blow.

Issei followed up on this by pointing both of his hands towards the two Yeti.

" _ **Thunderbolt!**_ "

A bolt of lightning jumped from each fist, slamming into the monsters and pushing them backwards, though they managed to keep their footing well enough to slow their motion.

One of the Yeti, a younger and less experienced one, dashed at Issei from behind with the belief that the brunette was vulnerable with his back turned, only to recieve a boot to the midsection, followed up on by a barrage of punches to the face and torso, throwing it away as a bloody, crumpled mess.

Seeing one of their own dead, the Yeti seemed to be moving to attack in a concerted effort, only for a loud roar to cause them to halt, and to attrack Issei's attention.

Another Yeti, bigger than the others by a foot or two, and with muscles that were twice as big as theirs made his way out of the forest, it's aura intense enough to completely silence his previously raging band.

It's body was littered in scars and it's fur had missing patches, likely a result of battles for dominance of the pack, yet the deference of the band made it obvious that it hadn't lost.

This Yeti, the leader of the band, sauntered with a level of swagger that one had when they knew they were the top of the food chain, before it's face split into a sharp grin that was missing two teeth, causing an image to come to the forefrot of Issei's mind.

 _ **'Hunting after the killers of his child alongside his wife, only for her to die right in front of him, before the filthy beasts slowly tore him apart, relishing in his screams of both pain and anguish.'**_

This was the Yeti that ultimately killed the previous owner of the cabin, and likely the one that took his child in the first place.

The Yeti transitioned directly from his saunter into a fast dash, suddenly appearing in front of Issei and rearing it's fist in order to release a devastating punch to his head. Issei responded by parrying the punch, cringing at the pain that blossomed on his back, shoulder and leg muscles, before he responded by punching the Yeti's face.

The Yeti's head snapped to the side, only for it to slowly turn his head so that his gaze fell on Issei, forcing the brunette's arm back bit by bit and causing him to wince at the effort expended in trying to stop it.

The Yeti raised it's fist up high before releasing it in a downwards swing aimed at Issei's head, but Issei blocked it with his gauntleted hand, causing a shockwave to explode underneath and around the two of them, clearing a ring of snow around them yet leaving Hylda untouched in the center.

Knowing that allowing this fight to progress as it was would endanger Hylda further, Issei hopped up, slamming a hard knee onto the Yeti's face, before dropkicking it on the chest as hard as he could, pushing it away.

" _ **KAMI-INARI KAMINARI!**_ _(Fox God Thunder)_ "

An aura of electricity surrounded Issei before firing outwards, shaping itself in the form of a pair of wolf-sized foxes made of lightning itself that set up watch over Hylda. With that done, Issei shot towards the head Yeti, holding the belief that defeating the leader of the band would cause the others to retreat, before snapping a punch to the Yeti's neck.

A punch that was blocked.

In response, Issei found himself being lifted into the air, before he felt himself being pulled downwards in a smashing motion. He responded by creating a set of lightning blades from his feet and stabbing them into the Yeti's arm, forcing it to release him with a howl of pain, and landing in a roll to bleed off the momentum and the damage.

He stomped hard on the ground, intent on firing off hard to make use of this advantage he had gotten himself only for his body to betray him, his legs seizing up and cramping from the sheer amount of electricity surging through them, before he coughed out a gob of blood.

' _Fuck, not now!_ '

He kept his gaze on the Yeti, watching as it wound down from it's pain-induced thrashing only for it's eyes to settle on Issei, hatred running deep within them.

It slammed both hands into the ground before ripping up a massive rock, it's muscles straining just to keep it above it's head, before throwing it towards the brunette.

Issei reacted by cocking back his left arm and gritting his teeth in preparation for the pain that would rip through his body shortly.

 _ **[BOOST]**_

He swallowed down the cry of pain from the overabundance of power running through his heavily damaged body even as he punched his left hand forward.

" _ **SHOTGUN BURST!**_ "

A storm of green fist-sized projectiles with a sparking yellow outline shot forth from the knuckles of Issei's _**Boosted Gear**_ , completely decimating the rock and travelling further to smack into the Yeti, however they had lost enough power by smashing through the stone that it was mostly ineffective.

Issei's eyes widened as he watched the Yeti leader shoot towards him. His legs were frozen in place, his arms felt so heavy that even keeping them up was a massive effort, and his insides felt like they were burning from the power channeled in his debilitated space, so he had no real way to defend against the Yeti. He could only watch as it got closer and closer, it's fists ready to completely pulverize him...

" _ **DÓRY!**_ _(Spear)_ "

Until a spear of blood flew past his head before slamming into the Yeti's left eye, causing it to let out howls and screeches of pain that aggravated the rest of the Yeti band, causing all of them to howl and screech noisily.

Issei looked behind him only to see Hylda, her face completely red and her eyes glassy, with a hand extended outwards towards his fight. The redhead, her help given, fell unconscious, being guarded by the two lightning foxes.

Not being one to squander a given opportunity, Issei pushed ahead.

' _Move! MOVE!_ _ **MOVE!**_ '

He forced his body under his control through sheer willpower, disregarding the sounds of his muscle fibers snapping and his bones creaking as he shot towards the Yeti and cocked his gauntleted fist backwards, a mix of a yellow and purple outline surrounding the gauntlet.

 _ **[BOOST]**_

A green fire-like aura joined the other colors, all mixing together as Issei's fist shot forward, slamming into the Yeti's gut.

" _ **SYNCHRO FIST!**_ "

The Yeti's eyes bulged to an extreme degree at the moment of impact, before blanking altogether as the entirety of the power Issei had built up hit him all at once, causing the space that was previously occupied by his torso and innards to simply disappear into a fine red mist, with the resulting shockwave slamming into another of the Yeti and instantly killing it as well, causing the corpse to fly away into the darkened forest.

' _I did- SHIT!_ '

Issei's body was hit the backlash, causing him to fall forwards onto the snow, his old and improperly healed injuries spurting fresh blood into the snow.

' _I... Can't... go... like... this..._ '

The brunette tried dragging himself back to his feet, the last of his magic focused on mantained the two thunder foxes around Hylda, yet the best that he managed was to rise to his knees, watching the Yeti in confusion, and then alarm.

Instead of dispersing in fear at the passing of their leader, the creatures went into a blood frenzy, each of them wanting to tear Issei apart limb by limb for daring to overpower the one that all of them had at one point or another failed to.

One of them screeched loudly before they all charged Issei, with the brunette incapable of mustering even an ounce of strength to fight them off.

' _So this is how I die, huh..._ '

Usually in this situation one would close their eyes and hope that their death was fast and painless, but Issei decided to face his demise with his eyes wide open.

They widened even further at the unbelievable scene that occured right in front of him.

 _ **~oOo~**_

The pack had been hunting their prey for days on end, sniffing at each footstep, track and broken twig. A small pool of blood from a few days earlier at the edge of the forest assured them that they were on the right track and that their target was near, but the presence of some sort of magical ward interfered with their senses, forcing them to retreat and lay low in an effort not to spook the prey.

Shortly after the discovery of the pool of blood, the next hint of their prey that they had was a massive amount of noise spanning from the center of the forest to the edge closest to the wards. The pack had gone into the area already expecting the level of devastation that they encountered, and easily navigated through and over the knocked down trees. Their noses warned them of their prey, but there was a surprise in the mix.

They could smell Human.

It was an odd smell, it simultaneously smelled of strength and weakness, flesh and lightning, and, most importantly, mand and dragon. And underneath all of that they could feel an odd sensation. It was difficult to explain in any way other than the word ' _home_ '.

They retreated after that, knowing that they wouldn't be getting anything more with the wards in the way. Imagine their surprise when, a couple of days later, they felt the wards collapse entirely, revealing the signatures of their prey. Taking this opportunity, they struck.

 _ **~oOo~**_

" _ **AWOOOOOOO!**_ "

Issei could only gape incredulously at the sight of a pack of bear-sized wolves bursting forth from the forest, splitting into groups of 3 or 4, with each group engaging a single Yeti.

It wasn't even a battle.

The Yeti were individually powerful, yes, but they were animallistic. Unintelligent.

The wolves, on the other hand, worked as a well-oiled machine, poking and prodding at the Yeti's defenses until they slipped up, before they went directly for kill strikes, be they clamping their teeth around their throats, or spotting an opening to the gut and using their wickedly sharp claws to eviscerate them.

One by one the Yeti fell, with the wolves incurring zero injuries, until they were all dead.

At that moment Issei felt the last of his strength leave him, his eyes slowly fluttering to a close, with the last thing he saw being one of the massive wolves striding towards him.

 _ **~oOo~**_

When he came to, Issei found himself waking up within a dimly lit cave, with only a few rays of sunshine peeking in through the cracks in the stone. The events of the previous night came to the front of his mind, causing him to jerk to a sitting position, yet it hurt nowhere near how much he expected it to.

He pushed that thought aside for now, his head swivelling around until his gaze met the slumbering for of Hylda.

He crawled towards the redhead and placed the back of his hand on her forehead, letting out a sigh of relief at the lower temperature than the last time he had measured her.

" **We have fed her some of the herbs known to cure disease in humans that grow around the area, underneath the snow.** "

Issei's head turned towards the source of the voice, his gaze falling onto a large wolf that was sat at the mouth of the cave, it's fur being of a bronze color, andhis sole golden-honey colored eye looking Issei up and down curiously. The brunette stayed silent, causing the wolf to cock it's eyebrow curiously, before speaking in a calm tone of voice.

" **I belive it is common courtesy for one to thank their savior, is it not?** "

"It's also common courtesy to introduce yourself to someone before demanding things of them, especially when your actions were taken of your own accord."

" **My, such ungratefulness...** "

"Not ungratefulness, just caution. This week has been very bad for me, a failure after another, and I'm having a hard time just keeping things together. After being hunted by a band of murderous, bloodthirsty Yeti and almost dying to them, it is very normal for me to be cautious of other magical beings, such as _talking wolves_."

The wolf tilted it's head before responding.

" **Fair enough. Let us start over with our introductions. My name is Ahenobarbus, and I am the leader of my pack. What would your name be, Roman?** "

"No, my name isn't Roman, it's Issei."

" **That... Was not what I-** "

The conversation between the two was interrupted by a particularly feminine sounding voice.

" _ **Brother, have they awakened yet?**_ "

" **The male has, however the female has not. Her sickness is not something that she is going to overcome so soon.** "

" _ **You don't need to tell me twice. I was the one taking care of her after all.**_ "

Issei's gaze turned towards the owner of the voice at this declaration, picking up white-colored fur and steel-gray eyes.

"Thank you for taking care of me and my companion."

The white-furred one's tail started wagging excitedly at that, her tone rising as she spoke.

" _ **Oh, no need to thank me! It is an honor to aid one such as yourself!**_ "

"...Right. Well, if you wouldn't mind, me and my companion over there have places to be right about now, so we'll be leaving-"

" _ **NO!**_ "

The emphatic negation from the white furred one caused Issei to jump at the suddenness of it, while Ahenobarbus seemed to facepaw and grumble something under his breath, before speaking.

" **Ease up on your fangirling, Alba. I'm sure Issei here won't understand anything that you have to talk about.** "

"Err... Whatever do you mean?"

Ahenobarbus opened his mouth to speak, only for Alba's excited tone of voice to cut through his.

" _ **You're a True Roman!**_ "

Issei's eyes narrowed at this declaration, his gaze pinning Alba in place with the pressure that he was capable of exerting after rest, only for Ahenobarbus to growl out in a dangerous tone.

" **Cease this aggression immediately, human!** "

Issei's gaze turned from the frozen Alba to the threatening Ahenobarbus, both males' eyes having lit up with a particular color - green for Issei and Gold of Ahenobarbus - even as the brunette spoke.

"Tell me what you know of this True Roman business, and How you know about it first."

" **Restrain your power and do not threaten my pack!** "

Issei was about to flare his power, only for Alba's voice to cut through the threatening tone established between the two males in the cavern.

" _ **That... was... SO COOL! You just glared, and your eyes got all glowy and the world felt heavy and stuff!**_ "

Just like that the tension was broken, causing both Issei and Ahenobarbus to restrain their powers, with a mildly blushing Issei clearing his throat before speaking up.

"Sorry for the slip right there, but I truly am curious... What and how do you know about this _**True Roman**_ business?"

Ahenobarbus was the one to respond, his exasperated eye on Alba as he did.

" **A** _ **True Roman**_ **is a title that one earns by gaining the favor of one of the Roman Gods, both old and new. When one possesses the title of** _ **True Roman**_ **, individuals of Roman origin will be drawn to them by an aura that speaks of familiarity. This aura is how we detected you.**

 **My pack and I are progeny of Lupa, the She-wolf that nurtered Romulus and Remus and was rewarded with divinity by the gods after the rise of Rome. Our ancestor has disappeared since the fall of Rome, and we have been searching for any lead that could direct us to her.** "

" _ **Yes! And now that you're here and awake, you can tell us what you know of Lupa!**_ "

"Unfortunately I know nothing of Lupa. I didn't even know about any of this _**True Roman**_ deal, or whatever."

Ahenobarbus' eye narrowed as he spoke.

" **Then how did you become a** _ **True Roman**_ **in the first place?** "

Shrugging, Issei responded.

"I met the Quila, the **Aquila Victis** , and the two of us worked together to take down a common foe. I ended up almost dying, and she gave me a bit of energy to ensure that I didn't die, but she said that something happened that caused that power to mutate and to start multiplying inside of me, instead of dissipating. It also created some psychic link that I was only able to access like, twice, and have no idea how to truly do it again.

She didn't even tell me about any of this _**True Roman**_ stuff. The most that she told me was that I was worthy of being called a Roman, or something like that. I thought that it was just a complement, not a title."

" **Preposterous! The Acquila Victis has vanished centuries ago-** "

"-Having disappeared during her battle with the invading snake, I know. What foe do you think I helped her defeat?"

" **I find it very unlikely that you managed to help the Eagle of Victory defeat an enemy that not even she was capable of singlehandedly taking down when you're not even strong enough to fight a bunch of Yeti.** "

"First things first, I know just how preposterous that premise is. Remember, I nearly died doing it, and I pretty much lost my left arm in the process."

Issei punctuated that by raising his gauntleted arm into view, before continuing.

"Second of all, I wouldn't have any trouble with the Yeti were I at full power. The issue is that I am currently _not_ at full power. I'm injured, I'm still magically exhausted from a ritual that I performed, I'm stressed out of my wits after repeated failures at saving my girlfriend from this asshole, I took the brunt of a massive magical explosion, and my body isn't at a state that allows it to mantain my full strength level for a long period of time."

" _ **Saving girlfriend? Magically exhausted? Explosion? That sounds like an interesting tale!**_ "

" **Indeed. An interesting tale, and a very unlikely one as well.** "

Issei frowned at the doubt showcased by Ahenobarbus, but before he could say a thing his stomach warned him of the need to fill his gut. Alba took this opportunity to intervene.

" _ **How about you tell the pack all about your adventure over lunch? We collected some fruits and fish for yourself and your companion, you would just need to heat those us.**_ "

 _ **~oOo~**_

A few minutes later Issei had dug a firepit close to the cave entrance and set a pair of fish to roast, all of the pack watching him with interest as he geared up for the retelling of his story.

"It all started a few months ago, when I decided to travel to amsterdam to hire a hooker..."

 _ **~oOo~**_

"...And then the house and the wards collapsed, and the Yeti attacked. I fought them off for a while and I killed their leader, and then you guys showed up. That's pretty much the whole story."

The entirety of the pack was transfixed by Issei's story, before Ahenobarbus spoke up.

" **This sounds really crazy. And improbable. I probably would think you a liar or a lunatic were it not for the fact that your electric powers sing to my very core.** "

The other wolves pretty much nodded in agreement. Feeling your instincts telling you that you were safely at home was like a goddamn drug for someone who spent their time constantly on the move.

" _ **So... What're you going to do now?**_ "

Issei turned towards Alba, sighing out before speaking.

"I'll build up as much power as I can, and then use the magical circle to travel back to Luxuria."

" _ **...Nah, that'll take too long, and you need to go save your girlfriend. I'm willing to lend you some of my power for the spell!**_ "

Ahenobarbus spoke up after that.

" **After the evidence you have given me of the veracity of your story... So am I.** "

The rest of the pack all offered to share their power, leaving Issei with a friendly smile on his face.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Holding an unconscious Hylda over his shoulder, Issei stood above the magical circle he had carved into the ground of the cave using his _**Boosted Gear**_ 's clawed fingers, watching Ahenobarbus' pack as they built up their power as high as they could.

" **Hyoudou.** "

Issei turned towards Ahenobarbus, his eyebrow raised questioningly, prompting the wolf to speak further.

" **I may not have believed you at first, but... You were completely truthful with me and my pack. Even during the parts that you didn't need to. Between that and your status as a** _ **True Roman**_ **... What I want to say is... If you ever need the aid of The Pack, we're always a wolf whistle away.** "

Before Issei could respond the entire pack pushed their power into the magical circle, causing it to light up brightly and to release purple-colored sparks, before a massive flash of light filled the cave. By the time the light died down, Issei was already gone.

Ahenobarbus reared his paw back and slammed it hard into the magical circle, causing the rock that it had been carved on to crumble into dust, leaving no traces of the formula for anyone to exploit.

" **Okay people, we can't stay here after this massive spike of power, so we'll be leaving in 15 minutes. Get yourselves in order and recover your energy.** "

Alba trotted up besides Ahenobarbus, before speaking up.

" _ **That was nice of you, to help Issei.**_ "

The bronze-colored cycloptic wolf shrugged - well, as much as a wolf could - before responding.

" **He's honest, he's a** _ **True Roman**_ **, and he's the one most likely to find anything on Lupa. I mean, seriously, he wanted to hire a hooker and ended up stumbling into the supernatural world, a lost Ultimate-tier entity and a kidnapping plot spanning a stupidly reclusive Nation the entire world wants to get in contact with. It's likely that he'll end up stumbling onto something about Lupa on a store run for a carton of milk, or something.**

 **And he's not the type of person to forget to be grateful for others, so he'll definitely tell us.** "

" _ **Ehh... A mixture between altruism and pragmatism, so you're not a total asshole, but you're also shrewd and cunning... I'll take it, I guess.**_ "

Ahenobarbus could only sweatdrop at his sister's brutal character assessment.

' **So troublesome...** '

 _ **~oOo~**_

A reunion between Laveria, her councilors and Xinthia was interrupted by the appearance of a magical circle above their heads, on the ceiling. Said magical circle sparked and sputtered, putting them all on guard, before it spat out a very familiar form.

Issei Hyoudou had finally returned to Luxuria after a while, but instead of returning in glory with Lilith in his arms, he had returned covered in bandages, with a limp on his right leg, and carrying the girl that aided Travis in kidnapping Lilith in the first place.

Seeing the looks in the eyes of the women present, Issei spoke up before they could skewer Hylda while disregarding the fact that he would be collateral.

"A lot happened, but long story short I didn't find Lilith, Hylda here defected from the other side and is now an ally, and the two of us really need healing. With that out of the way, I need you ladies to please curb your murderous intent and direct me to the nearest infirmary."

 _ **~oOo~**_

Laveria looked at Issei gravely after listening to his entire story, before speaking up.

"Things not only not go as well as we expected, but it went worse than almost all of our predictions."

The brunette blinked owlishly, before speaking up.

"What do you mean? I got a powerful ally for the fight, I made more allies with a pack of wolves descended from a wolf goddess, and I got a piece of information that should lead us directly to Lilith."

" _ **XOCHIQUETZAL**_ , yes, you told me, and that's only part of the problem. Let me start at the beginning.

That girl, Hylda, or Jackie, or whomever she is... She's not trustworthy! It's likely that she'll stab you in the back at the first possible opportunity. Second of all, and likely the most important part, _you used deity-based divination magic_. That is quite literally one of the worst choices any person could make, ever.

Third, _**XOCHIQUETZAL**_ is the name of an Aztec goddess, the Aztec goddess of Pleasure, Indulgence and Sex. Anything that evolves into a situation that has you dealing with the Aztec is a complete clusterfuck. There is a reason as to why they are considered a savage people, despite their various achievements. Their culture was based on a religion with human sacrifices and self harm as some of their basis, to be done in a regular manner!

I... This is a fucking nightmare!"

"Okay, you said your piece, let me say mine. First point, I trust Jackie and Hylda. They helped me do what I needed to do, to no gain of their own. No, it was actually to their detriment. One could argue that that was Jackie only, and that Hylda could not be trusted, but I counter with this:

I gave Hylda a free shot at trying to kill me. She had the opportunity to do so, and she did not, despite the fact that she's supposed to be a 'blood-crazed psycho'. More than that, she saved my life. She was sick, injured and very close to dying, and even then she acted in a way that ensured that I managed to make it back here alive. If it were not for her, I would currently be very much dead.

Second point, I don't see what's so bad about divination magic. Sure, I got a wicked headache and accidentally fucked up a set of wards and almost died... _wow, starting out real strong there, Hyoudou_... But ultimately it allowed me to return, and it gave us the information that will lead us to Lilith!

As to the third point, I don't know enough about the Aztec to say anything, so I'll just trust your judgement."

Laveria pinched the bridge of her nose and counted backwards from 10, before speaking.

"Okay, Issei, if you say that this girl can be trusted then I'll trust in your judgement for now.

Now, let me explain what is so bad about divination magic. Ever heard about Achilles? His mother was a goddess, and she was given a prophecy by the fates about the death of Achilles, her demigod newborn. She did everything the could to toughen him up, from burning him in a fire, to dunking him in the river Styx. The latter method worked, except for the fact that she was holding his ankle too tightly, creating a weakspot where the water didn't touch.

He ended up dying when that spot was hit by a bullshit arrow shot by some asshole as he was dying, either by chance or guided by Apollo, based on what interpretation you belive.

What about the myth of the Rise of the Olympians? Kronos, with a K, is told that one of his kids is going to usurp his position as big boss of the greek world and whatnot, so he decides to swallow his kids, except Rhea wasn't stupid and sent one away to be raised by an eagle and a goat... I kind of take that back, that was a stupid idea by Rhea, but it ended up working. That Eagle/goat baby grew up to be Zeus, and he freed his siblings, chopped up his dad, tossed him into Tartarus and banished, killed or otherwise punished the remaining titans one way or another, all while becoming the big kahuna of the greek pantheon himself.

The common thread of these two tales? It is unlikely that they would have occured had the prophecies never been heard. It's a common occurence in all mythos that involve prophecies. They tend to be self-fulfilling. That's because fate-based entities are prone to fuckery. They give you some good stuff to make you a believer in their words and methods, and then you stop questioning what they tell you. That way they have some stooge to send on this specific errand by espousing something about them finding riches and glory, or something like that.

Aside from that, there's the fact that these beings tend to extract big prices. Odin traded Mymir 'Sight for sight', which is to say that he gave one of his eyes for knowledge. Others gave different other things, from sacrificial animals, to internal organs, to their very souls.

But the most expensive prices are usually extracted from those who have been given ' _free'_ information, so you should be very worried about your future from now on, especially since you're the type of person whose actions, no matter how seemingly minor, have a tendency to change things irrevocably, and most fate-based entities do not like having their plans disrupted, and their plots taken off the rails that they lay. That is why bargaining with destiny-based entities is ill-advised. Hell, bartering with any being higher than yourself is ill-advised and short-sighted. Those tend to not be very altruistic, and to keep you as a servant of some sort.

Other than that, I already have someone working on the tip you gave. Xinthia is friends with Sacagewea from way back when, before she posed as a mortal and guided Louis, Clarke and Tweedleburger through the U.S, and Sacagewea owes her a favor, something to do with strawberries, whipped cream and featherdusters, and it turns out that there are many other elemental and nature spirits, including many Naiads and Dryads, that owe sacagewea favors of their own.

North America in general, and Mexico specifically is being combed for any evidence of supernatural happenings. As soon as we get news, you go in." 

"So I should basically avoid gods, godesses and those sorts of entities, get ready for some curveball coming as a consequence of literal divine intervention, and prepare to save Lilith, but this time, for real."

"Yes."

"...Then there's only one thing left to do. I'm going to consume the seed."

Laveria's eyes widened, before she spoke up.

"Not that I disagree with the choice, but why so suddenly?"

"My strongest abilities are unreliable due to the strain that they put on my body, ensuring that I have to limit both time and usage. Increasing my amount and mastery of **Tantric Energy** means that I can become drastically better at reinforcement, and even learn self-healing to the point that using my full strength doesn't actually threaten to kill me from the inside-out."

"Very well."

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Issei?"

The brunette gave Laveria a thumbs up, prompting her to unlock the door to a special room of the castle's that was used specifically for this situation, to allow someone to be killed were they to lose control over themselves, and the power of the seed.

A grate was opened at about waist-length with a tray possessing only a single, purple-covered apple being pushed inside, before the door, windows, and any other openings not necessary for oxygen flow were locked shut with layers upon layers of magical seals.

Issei grabbed the _**Seed**_ and looked it over from any angle he could, reaching a single conclusion.

"It's a normal apple."

Shrugging, the brunette raised the apple up to his mouth, and he took a bite.

 _ **~Chapter, End~**_

 **Okay, I know that you probably hate me for the way this chapter ended, but it had to be like this. As promised before, I expanded somewhat on the title of True Roman that Aquila gave Issei, I pushed the story forward and created bonds between Issei and Hylda, connected him to a pack of magical, bear-sized wolves, and I** _ **finally**_ **have him eating the seed.**

 **Other than that, keep the warning about dealing with gods in mind for future chapters, because that will be very important.**

 **See you next chapter, arrivederci!**


	12. Fate? I spit on yours and make my own!

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of "This guy makes a mess of the DxD universe and it somehow works", wherein moi, titular 'guy', will be making a mess of things for your enjoyment and amusement.**

 **But before that, I believe you guys know what time it is...**

 **REVIEW RESPONSE CORNER!**

 **Xerzo LotCN says: "welp that went to hell in a hand basket but he fully tamed crazy waifu with his kindness and nature caring for and saving her very sweet in both way**

 **i do feel bad it was mostly subconscious mind as she must have had a bad life to not meet kindness**

 **interesting part with the true roman and lupa descendant wolfpack also its pretty funny him recapping his story to fucking honest haha**

 **but it does seem a bit almost asspully to save him but it could have been much worse at least they had a reason it was not random happenstance**

 **but where the hell were they... that had yeti packs and magic super roman wolves**

 **while it was stupid what he did he basically had no other options but go wait and die he got the info he saved himself and new waifu**

 **so he is eating the seed is he stupid "it look like a normal apple" it was fucking purple he was told it was or once was an apple this can only go well lols**

 **welp any chance he get the other half of the seed that be neat it probably completely change his race from human at least by half if half the seed doesnt already but boy will he be lusty good thing he is future harem king"**

 **A: We'll learn more about her life later on in the story, so don't worry about that. About the asspull part, I was planning that since the start of the chapter. I purposefully made it seem as if it were the Yeti hunting for Issei, when it was actually the pack hunting for the Yeti. I wanted to expand on the True Roman comment from Aquila in past chapters.**

 **About the other half of the seed... You won't be learning about it anytime soon, I can tell you that. I have plans for it, big plans.**

 **PraetorXyn says: "All right, this kidnapping arc is getting real old real fast, as I never liked it to begin with, but the latter part of the chapter brought it back somewhat. Looking forward to resolving this finally.**

 **I really hope the seed makes him powerful. All this about "strain" is getting really old too."**

 **A: The strain may feel cumbersome in the story, but it is well-founded. Remember the fact that up until he awakened the** _ **Boosted Gear**_ **, Issei was a mostly unremarkable human. No heroic heritage, no magical blood, he didn't even do something as basic as practice martial arts. A totally normal human teen body shouldn't be able to properly handle the full amount of power that Issei can use. In the Anime/Manga/light novels his power growth without consequences makes sense because he has the body of a Devil, but here he doesn't have that advantage. Plus, he's still 14, barely a teenager. His body will gradually grow into his full power, both through age and training.**

 **the Composcreator says: "Am I the only boy one concerned about the power gap between Vali and Issei? For now it seems to be shrinking with the main factor being Issei's physical endurance. However once his body is trained up to handle his powers he will skyrocket, potentially past Vali. I'm more interested in an even fight"**

 **A: Don't worry about it. Remember the while Issei is growing stupidly fast, Vali is also a little monster of a battle maniac. The two of them are the type of people to shatter limits and subvert expectations. When they eventually do end up crossing fists, it'll be a thing of beauty.**

 **wanderinghawk1 says: "What a refreshing story! Good original stories (AU) are hard to find.**

 **Sadly many (non crossover) DxD stories have bad grammer or sentence structure, yours doesn't so major point there. But seriously I enjoy you writing style. Also stroy progression and character development are good (maybe a little more interaction between Issei Lilith?). Oh and it would be great if you could describe the looks of the important OC characters in a little more detail please, just a little.**

 **Question how big is the harem gonna be? 5-10-20-...100 girls because I have seen such fics and that is simply to much, just saying keep the harem small enough that each character gets enough screen time please.**

 **Also is Aquila going to be part of Issei's Harem (?) cause I REALLY like her character plus she really seems to connect with Issei on not perverted things (or maybe there too who knows XD ?).**

 **I hope Issei isn't gonna end up in some kind of unbreakable contract/binding/whatever with a god...**

 **Anyway this is definitly one of my favorite DXD stories, keep up the good work!"**

 **A: It's great that you enjoy the story, my friend! About the grammar and sentence structure, I always try to do my best, however mistakes occasionally occur wherein typos slip past my eyes, or sentences get improper punctuation, but that is a normal occurence for anyone that doesn't have betas for their stories, especially when they tend to write well into the wee hours of the morning since that's when they find the most inspiration.**

 **About the OC's, I thought that I was describing them properly, I had no idea that I was missing the mark. Guess I'll have to try a bit harder, no?**

 **The harem... Mhm, I can't give you any numbers. It would ruin the surprise, and nailing down a number so early would extremely reduce the possibilities of what I can do later on in the story regarding this subject.**

 **Aquila is definitely going to be in Issei's harem, I have no shame in spoiling this. It was a foregone conclusion. Rejoice, for Eagle Waifu is a go.**

 **Other than that, there's not much that I can say without heavy spoilers, so I'll have to move on to the next review!**

 **Templarsith says: "Well that is apple going to have one hell of a kick to it. On the note only making deals with equals I thought as the heavenly dragon emperor Issei was on par with gods? I mean when Gasper stop time in the meeting everyone else has to defend vs time stop effect however Issei ignores it, heck didn't Rias get saved due to the fact she was touching Issei when it happened? On the note of Aztecs how the hell is Quetzalcoatl going to fit in? I mean it was a Hernan Cortes who put the nail in the coffin for the Aztecs when he united all the other tribes against the Aztecs, but on the flip side ripping a person heart out as a peace offering is not going to convince a devout Christian to stop. However we now mixing history with DxD and story writing. Well I look forward to more great story thank you!"**

 **A: Semantics. Issei has a weapon that can kill gods, so on from a certain perspective he is 'on pair with gods'. However, his power is not yet high enough to actually equal a god, so any deals with gods would be from a position of a disadvantage, as an inferior. It's conceptual-level shenanigans, they have a tendency to fudge things like power scaling and such. And there is no guarantee that Quetzalcoatl is going to get involved. After all, it's not as if he's the only Mesoamerican deity, and he probably has other things to do as well. You'll have to read on to see what happens.**

 **Well, that concludes this chapter's Review Response Corner! If you wish to be featured in the next chaoter's, all you have to do is leave a question in the reviews, or a sentence that could be construed as a sentence that has not yet been answered, and I will do my best to give you information without blatantly spoiling the plot.**

 **With that out of the way, let us head onwards to the story!**

 _ **~oOo~**_

"!"

Issei's eyes widened tremendously, his shoulders shaking as he reeled back, slamming back-first into one of the steel walls of the chamber white reaching for his throat with both hands.

Tears started building up at the corners of Issei's eyes, his hands trembling and his face gaining a purplish hue due to his bite of the apple. The brunette thrashed and writhed in place before falling onto the ground, his right hand trying to reach upwards as dark spots started dancing in his vision.

Before he could go unconscious, Issei's gauntleted hand rose up into the air, a sheen of power building up to a noticeable degree as the green jewel on it's back lit up with a bright light. He tightened said hand into a fist...

Before slamming it into his chest, causing the apple chunks that he had been choking on to slide down his gullet into his stomach.

"HAH!"

His breathing came in fast, haggard gasps as he turned over to his hands and knees.

' **...You absolute moron.** '

'Hey, don't call me a moron! I just survived a near-death experience!'

' **You survived a battle with a Jotunn, the Invading Snake, a Bloody Maiden and a pack of Yeti, and you almost got done in by a fucking apple!** '

'Choking is absolutely normal!'

' **You took a tiny baby bite of the damn thing! How could you have choked on that?** '

'... _mumble_...'

' **What was that?** '

'I said... That I don't like apples.'

' **You don't li- ARE YOU A DAMN CHILD?** '

'WHAT'S WRONG WITH NOT LIKING APPLES!?'

' **YOU ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF THAT! EVEN LITTLE CHILDREN KNOW TO SWALLOW FOOD BEFORE IT CAUSES THEM TO CHOKE!** **PLUS, YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT YOU WERE GOING TO BE EATING AN APPLE!** '

'JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW SOMEONE IS GOING TO KICK YOU IN THE NUTS DOESN'T MEAN YOU'LL FEEL THE PAIN LESS!'

' **...Point. Anyways... How does it feel like, having eaten the apple?** '

Looking down at his own hands, Issei blinked owlishly before responding.

'I don't feel any different.'

' **Maybe you need to eat the entire apple.** '

The brunette looked at the purple half-eaten apple on top of the steel tray, his eyes narrowed.

'Perhaps.'

The dragon let out an exhasperated sigh, before speaking in a tired tone.

' **Stop being a big baby and just eat the damned thing.** '

Sneering at the apple, Issei slowly approached it and poked it with a gauntleted finger, before picking it up. He clamped his nose shut with his fingers before rapidly eating the rest of the apple, gagging all the way and having to fight down a few retches, until only a stem and an - ironically enough - seedless pit were left behind.

'Okay, I ate the damn thing... Where are my super-whoa!'

A pulse of energy went up Issei's body, surrounding him in a purple glow for an instant, his eyes lighting up in the same color.

The brunette looked down at his glowing hands, enjoying the soft and warm feel of the aura around him, before it suddenly and jarringly vanishing, it's sudden absence causing Issei to trip in place.

' **...Do you feel any different?** '

'I feel like I just had a full body massage before being dunked into a pair of soft Oppai.'

' **And?** '

'...That's it, really. I can't feel anything else to be different.'

' **Bit of an underwhelming power up, is it?** '

'I _do_ feel like I can take more punishment than before, so it's not as bad as you say, really.'

' **Yes, it is. After all the Hype I expected a massive light show, an eruption of power that shook the earth itself, maybe someone screaming about how your power level was over 9000 or something...** '

'8000 in the original, but yes, I guess I see your poi-Hey, how the hell do you know about Drag So-Ball!?'

' **My last host was a fan of the original comics, and it's about dragons, so of course I would care about it. Dragons are, after all, the best beings alive.** '

'The humblest ones, too.'

' **Of course! It seems you finally understand the greatness of- Oh, you were being sarcastic. I didn't know you were intelligent enough to understand sarcasm.** '

The brunette facepalmed at that, before stomping over towards the door of his steel room and slamming his fist into it reppeatedly, before calling out loud.

"Anyone there?"

The brunette kept knocking on the door for over half an hour, calling out for someone to open the door, until his companion spoke in a bored tone.

 **'Ever thought of... I don't know... Blowing the fuck out of this door?** '

'Yes, actually, and I decided that it wouldn't work because it was expected that I became some sex-crazed deviant and start trying to explode things, so this room was likely enchanted with this in mind.'

' **And since people expected you to fight some long and protracted battle against your inner self, or lust, or whatever, there's no one around to let you out, and there probably won't be for a good while.** '

'Yup, you're starting to get it.'

' **How the hell are we getting out of here, then?** '

'I may have an idea.'

' **Oh? Do tell.** '

'Remember the transportation circle I used to get here? It caused me to land in the great hall. If I used the circle again, I'd probably be sent there again. '

' **How do you know that your landing area was intentional, and not just sheer dumb luck?** '

'When the circle got beamed into my mind, I gained a certain level of understanding of it's components. I don't know everything about everything involved in the circle because it's based on knowledge that I don't currently have, but I have a general feel for each of the parts that compose it. I know that a part of it is some sort of anchor, a fixed point to which I connect and reel myself to in order to reach Luxuria. And since I'm at full power right now...'

' **You can just transport yourself without external aid.** '

'Bingo.'

Issei crouched, allowing a current of electricity to run down his _**Boosted Gear**_ 's claws, giving it a higher amount of cutting power, before rearing said hand back to start on the process of drawing the magical circle. He stopped himself before he could even start, however.

' _Wait a minute! When I jumped with Hylda, I didn't need to draw a magical circle, I just imagined it and pushed power into it. Then, I should be capable of..._ '

The brunette closed his eyes, pulling the image of the magical circle to the forefront of his mind. With the image having been permanently engraved within his brain, it was very easy for him to pull it up.

He imagined his various different powers, the green/red thread from the _**Boosted Gear**_ , the yellow from what he dubbed his _**Rome Force**_ , which was the power he was granted by Aquila, the purple of his _**Tantric Energy**_ and the white that he associated to his humanity, which was also the smallest one in amount, though it had been steadily growing overtime, coalescing together into a single, unified mass of energy.

He grabbed this mass and, as if it were putty, started manipulating it, twisting, turning, changing and squeezing, causing it's shape to gradually change. Issei's brow furrowed in irritation as he felt this shaping to be much too slow, before he mentally overlapped the images of the finished magical circle and the morphing mass of power. He pictured this magical circle as a hollow mold before pouring the amalgamate of power in.

Ultimately, only a tiny amount of the power was truly needed to craft the circle, the rest returning to Issei and melding into him, with only a minor discomfort, before the brunette opened his eyes, the image of the complete circle in his mind's eye.

He raised his right hand before slamming it onto the ground underneath him and allowing this shaped power to rush out completely. Issei watched with great focus, his attention and the mental image never wavering, as the finished magical circle that he planned appeared underneath him in it's complete form, sputtering and tossing around bolts and arcs of lightning, before he felt himself being enveloped by a blanket of energy. He felt like an intense breeze rushed around him, like when he ran very fast, before his senses warned him that he was about to appear somewhere that felt very different from where he had been before.

 _ **~oOo~**_

 _ **SPLASH!**_

The brunette lifted himself up from the soapy water that he had fallen into, the smell of roses barely registering in his mind as he wiped the soapy water from his face to keep it away from his eyes.

' _This felt really different from when I got transported from the Alps to Luxuria. Hell, it felt different from when I was transported from here to Hungary. It felt smoother, less jerky, and less sickness-inducing. Was it because I travelled using only my own power, or was it something else...?_ '

"Issei?"

The brunette looked up at the source of the voice before blinking owlishly. Having regained himself, he spoke in as nonchalant tone as he possibly could.

"Hey, Jackie. Nice, uh, breasts you have there."

The bathing girl's eyes were wide in surprise, before she reacted as any normal woman would were she to suddenly find a man in her bath.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Issei winced at the pitch and volume of the shriek, before the sound of a wooden door being knocked down filled the bathroom, before two sets of feet positioned themselves on opposite sides of the tub.

"What's the problem her- Is that Hyoudou-dono in there?"

The brunette looked at the source of the voice, seeing a familiar spear-brandishing guard that was looking at him with surprise, and more than just a bit of trepidation. Ignoring this, he raised his hand in greeting.

"Yup, it's me, Venka."

Venka, a succubus soldier with green shoulder-length hair in a hime cut, 5'4" in height and a pair of humongous F-cup breasts looked away from Issei and towards the other succubus that was standing guard over the bathing girl with her before speaking.

" _Wasn't Issei-dono supposed to be in the isolation chamber? Laveria-sama said something about some temporary sex-based insanity that would cause him to attack anyone in sight!_ "

The other succubus was a 5'9" woman, her hair orange in color and reaching all the way down to her ankles, and her build slim, with small b-cup breasts. Her name was Renka, and she was Venka's twin sister. She also gave Issei a wary look, taking half a step backwards and gripping her sword tightly as she answered.

" _You are correct. I do not believe that his presence in here is coincidental. We should prepare for a fight._ "

Jackie seemed confused, as if everything that had been said so far was just gibberish, or spoken in a foreign language, while Issei just sighed, a sweatdrop on his forehead as he responded.

" _I am not in some sex-crazed insanity, and neither am I going to attack anyone. My presence here in this tub was actually 100% coincidence._ "

Venka and Renka traded astonished looks, before the two of them turned to face Issei again, with Venka speaking up.

"You... _Can you understand what I'm saying?_ "

" _Yes..._ "

Renka was the one to speak up next, her tone conveying as much surprise as Venka's.

" _How is that possible?_ "

The brunette sighed, raising himself from the soapy water and noticing the absentminded sway of Jackie's breasts in the water - _'Bigger than Hylda's_ ' - before jumping out the side of the tub, ignoring the uncomfortable manner in which his clothes were sticking to his skin even as he answered.

" _Well, you girls are speaking japanese, and I was sort of born in Japan, so... Yeah._ "

Renka's eyes widened further at that, before she spoke.

" _I think we need to see Lady Laveria._ "

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei gave the many succubi that had arrayed themselves on the other side of the massive conference table an annoyed look, his eyes noticing the tension in their shoulders, the way that most of them kept a tight grip on their weapons, and the fact that more than a few had their power brimming just under their skin, ready to be unleashed on a moments notice.

He raised his hand to scratch his cheek, resulting in him watching as the various people fully released their weapons and went into their fighting stances.

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, forcing him to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths to regain his calm. He opened his eyes and ignored the way that most of the succubi flinched when his gaze moved over them before allowing his gaze to settle on one of the only calm succubi, Laveria - _the other one was Xinthia, who had folded over the table laughing at Issei's irritation_ \- before speaking up.

"So... I ate the thing."

Laveria leaned forward, her gaze firmly on Issei's as she spoke.

"It was a fast transition. How did it feel?"

"Underwhelming, really. I expected a massive flash and bang of some sort, a massive surge of previously unseen power, and an internal struggle of epic proportions. Maybe even facing a Nega-Issei or something within a physical representation of my soul, complete with crumbling buildings, a massive lake, maybe a few skyscrapers that people stand on vertically because reasons.

Instead I lit up purple like a glowstick, then I felt as if I got a simultaneous deep tissue massage, and an injection of sugar and caffeine into my bloodstream. Other than that, I can feel my power responding a bit easier to my commands, so I guess my magical control increased as well."

Laveria steepled her fingers and leaned forward before speaking.

"Odd. Very different from my own experience, and the experience of everyone that managed to survive the process that is stored within the royal records. But, with the difference in species, and your various... Particularities... It is not completely unfounded. Perhaps your lust is at it's maximum output at all times, and you simply gained a deeper understanding of it instead of connecting to the concept of lust itself.

It would explain your revitalization and control, from the principle of ' _ **Togetherness with the self**_ ', and it could explain what Venka and Renka told me occured. But before that, could you please explain to me how you ended up within the tub while... Jackie was bathing?"

Sheepishly scratching his cheek, Issei responded.

"I was alone and locked in a room that I couldn't blast my way out of, with no one expecting me to be done anytime soon. I was bored, and I had a transportation circle that always led me to the Royal Castle in Luxuria, so... I used it. I expected to land in the great hall, but I guess trying to use a magical circle straight from the mind without a physical conduit can result in the occasional glitch. I'm actually glad I didn't end up fused to a wall or something like that.

Also, what was that about Venka and Renka?"

"They told me about the conversation in the bathroom. How you could understand them."

"Yeah, I'm still a bit confused about that. They were acting like I was some mindless animal that couldn't understand human languages."

"That, Issei, is because you weren't responding to a human language. Renka and Venka were speaking in the native language of the Succubi, _Lilim_. It is a language that we succubi have seldom taught a foreign entity, and those were never capable of teaching others."

Issei sat up straight at that, his face serious as he spoke.

"How is that possible? I never even _knew_ that you had a language, I never heard even the maids use it while talking amongst themselves. I couldn't possibly have just learned it. Plus, it sounded like japanese, both when they spoke, and when I spoke."

"I believe, Issei, that this sudden ability with languages is _a consequence of you eating that._ "

" _What do you mean 'ability with languages?_ "

" _What I mean is that I said half the previous sentence in japanese and the other half in italian, and you responded to me in italian only. This sentence I am saying in german, from start to finish. I believe that you can still understand me, no?_ "

Issei's eyes widened incredulously at this, before he answered, also in german.

" _But how?_ "

Laveria switched back to japanese as she answered.

"One of the aspects of _**Tantric Energy**_ is, as you know, ' _ **Togetherness with Another**_ '. Said aspect allows one the ability to manipulate the mind and feelings of another, but this ability is inextricably linked to the other primary ability of this aspect, which is a supernatural degree of empathy. Succubi naturally possess an extremely elevated degree of empathy, allowing them to gauge the emotional state of their 'prey', or how much they need to manipulate the mind of another in order to make an escape or to make someone forget about their presence. Another aspect of this ability, and something that all succubi are naturally born with, is the ' _ **Gift of Babel**_ '. Succubi are capable of understanding and speaking in any human language that is considered 'Current'.

By current, I mean any language that is spoken by more than a certain amount of people. As it stands, you should be capable of speaking languages such as English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and so on and so forth. Dialects spoken by a smaller amount of people aren't included in the package though, so while you can speak basic Mandarin, you can't suddenly understand the specific dialect of a certain village in the middle of a certain province with a population of under 100, for example.

Languages of the olden days such as Latin, Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Uto-Aztecan Nahuan and others such are outside of your reach, though languages such as Ancient Greek should be easier for you to understand, as it is simply the earlier form of Greek. The same should apply with Olde English, up until a certain degree, but in order to truly speak those languages, you'll have to learn.

Keep in mind that this gift applies only to the spoken language, not the written one, so you can't just suddenly read the Illiad in greek, or something like that."

"So I can speak any of the popularly-used contemporany languages? Cool, I can watch American Porn without subs now!"

Almost everyone in the room sweatdropped at that, including Ddraig from within the _**Boosted Gear**_ , while Xinthia kept laughing her ass off.

Shaking off this exhasperation, Laveria spoke up again.

"You feel that your powers are more responsive... Maybe you should take the time to exercise them, get acquainted with this new level of control."

"Yeah, that's a great idea! Do you have any place with a plentiful amount of water, with nothing living within it?"

"Training room 6, the green door to the left of the stair in the fourth floor. It has a space-expansion field inside, and there's a shallow pool of water, knee-length, mostly used by those training in hydromancy. Might I ask why you need that?"

"I found out that overuse of the _**Rome Force**_ causes my muscles to cramp up and spasm from prolongued exposure to the electricity, and that I get a few electrical burns as well. I want to both test my maximum output at any one moment, and increase my body's tolerance to that power. I'll step into the pool of water and just discharge for as long as I can."

Xinthia's laughing reached a higher volume at that, and she managed to gasp between guffaws.

"You'll... You'll train by short-circuiting yourself!"

She then resumed her laugher, her face gaining an unhealthy reddish tint. Laveria sweatdropped at that, before speaking.

"Are you sure that's the best method, Issei? Don't you have any other way?"

"Well, I could just dry discharge, but it would be slower and less effective as I'd have to build up all of my power again, and the _**Rome Force**_ , while within my body causes less damage than real electricity on the outside.

I'll just step into the water naked and discharge, and the electricity will return to me, helping me increase my electricity resistance using fully-effective power. Plus, I saw _**Aquila**_ summoning a lightning bolt from the sky to fall onto herself and use it as power, I should be able to absorb electricity and turn it into power as well. If I manage to do that, then I'll have more reserves to unleash into the water, and then more to absorb to then unleash again.

I'll minimize the waste of magic, and maximize the effective conditioning time that I have. Plus, I'm in the nation with some of the best medics in the whole world, so if I get hurt, I'm sure I'll get patched back together. No real downsides."

This caused Xinthia's laughter to stop, and caused all of the succubi in the room to give Issei surprised looks. Laveria rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, before speaking up.

"You know, Issei, when you speak about uncensored porn and such, people tend to forget that you're actually _smart_."

Smirking, Issei met Laveria's gaze as he answered.

"It is good to occasionally remind people that I could figure out new ways to make myself stronger without anyone ever expecting it. Makes them less likely to disregard me."

The ruler of Luxuria smirked at Issei's cheek.

' _Throwing my own words from that night at the roof back at me... Such a cheeky young man._ '

Pushing this thought aside, she waved her hand carelessly as she spoke.

"You're free to go, Issei. I will inform my staff that you're not actually suffering from any sex-induced lunacy that would cause you to fuck any woman within your sensory range into a drooling mess. It will likely disappoint more than a few of the girls, but that is just how life is, you know."

"...I am not going to be a virgin two weeks from now, mark my damn words."

The ruler of Luxuria grinned widely at Issei at that.

"So you're promising to save Lilith in less than two weeks."

"You're goddamned right! Now if you'll excuse me, there is a cold shower with my name on it."

The brunette stood up with as much dignity as he could, with a pillow held to the front of his pants, before turning around and limping out of the great hall, headed for his bed chambers. The various succubi left in the room watched his perfectly-sculpted, rock-hard butt move as he walked, causing them to almost simultaneously lick their lips, Xinthia included.

' _If you save Lilith fast enough, I assure you that your virginity will not last more than 3 to four days, Issei. If Lilith doesn't take care of that, I'll do it myself._ '

With that thought Laveria excused herself from the great hall, going back to her room with the intent of checking on some of her clothes that she kept hidden in the back of her closet, willing to break them out in celebration for when Issei inevitably saved her baby girl.

After all, when Issei spoke with such confidence and certainty, it was hard to disagree with him. His charisma, when used properly, was an absolutely devastating weapon.

' _Just remembering his face when he first told me that he'd fight me to the death to save Lilith, the day we first met... Gives me the tingles. I'll be needing a fresh pair of panties now._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

Once again, as was becoming the rule more than the exception in the Luxurian Royal Palace, another meal was extremely awkward for most of the people at the table. This time it was dinner, with majority of the succubi sitting at the table giving Jackie looks that ranged from 'deeply distrustful' to 'badly hidden loathing', while the girl her shrunk into herself from the animosity thrown her way.

The only two that seemed to not notice this tension, or not at all care about it, were, as usual, Issei and Laveria. The two were either unaware of or ignoring the tension hanging in the room, while they discussed a matter of deep intellectual and philosophical worth.

"Shape matters as much, if not more so than size, Issei."

"Of course it does, I didn't disagree with that, but whenever it comes to the sancity of Oppai, bigger is generally better! Though smaller breasts can have a certain charm of their own. None of this matters if the person attached to the breasts is extremely rotten on the inside, or a man, though."

Yeah, it was one of _those_ discussions. It's dinner table chatter at the world's sex capital, what did you expect people to discuss, the stock market?

"Speaking of smaller breast charm..."

Issei's gaze moved towards Jackie, his face turning serious before he spoke.

"Jackie, how come your breasts are bigger than Hylda's?"

This question caused more than one person at the table to choke on their food, Laveria to chuckle amusedly, and Jackie herself to sputter uselessly, her face turning to an alarming shade of red. Not noticing this, Issei kept speaking.

"I mean, it's not like Hylda's breasts are _small_ by any possible measure, but how is it that your breast size varies? How much does the difference in magic from a sacred gear, and I'll hazard a guess and say circulation from your specific sacred gear, from your regular one affect your breasts?"

Regaining herself and noticing that she wasn't the only one absolutely flabbergasted by the sudden question, Jackie marshalled herself and tried answering as assertively as possible.

"Well... It's not as much the circulation and magic flow that cause that difference in size, but the gear itself. When the _**Blood Reign**_ sacred gear is active, some aspects of myself get sent into the metaphysical space within my soul..."

"While others are brought out of the gear itself. That's what creates the dichotomy between Jackie and Hylda. So I was even more correct than I believed when I said that you two were the same person. A base set of traits intrinsic to your **[WHOLE]** , but they get separated between the two portions of yourself, with Jackie getting the more 'civillian' version of yourself, with the softer and lighter emotions and traits, and Hylda getting the 'darker and more violent' aspects.

However, the fact that even your 'Dark and violent' side is capable of feeling positive emotions and performing good deeds, regardless of the fact that she can't really recognize those emotions, is just more proof that I was right to trust you."

The girl blushed further at that, while her other version, watching from within their sacred gear, copied Jackie's facial hue, a deep feeling welling within her metaphorical chest.

' _ **What is this that I feel? My heart is beating faster, but I don't feel sick. It feels heavy, but light. My stomach feels as if something was fluttering within... What are you doing to me, Hyoudou Issei**_ _ **?**_ '

Hylda's thoughts were unknown to all but herself, though the fact that Jackie's thoughts at that moment paralleled them caused those feelings to further imprint themselves within their **[WHOLE]** , changing their infatuation for Issei into something deeper.

Of course, none other than Laveria, an experienced succubus with centuries of Empathic skills built up, noticed this, allaying some of the misgivings that she had for the girl.

' _If she feels this deeply for Issei, then I don't need to be worried about her betraying him later on._ '

Her gaze turned to Issei who seemed to have moved from the conversation about the nature of Jackie/Hylda's own existance to his favorite subject, breasts, before her eyes softened imperceptibly.

' _This man... He's very special. He will be good not just for Lilith, Xinthia and myself, but for anyone else that is lucky enough to fall into the cathegory of his precious people. A few more months, or maybe even years of development, and I'd hate to be in the shoes of anyone who managed to earn his anger._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

" _ **JINKOURAI-KEN!**_ _(Blade of Artificial Lightning)_ "

A crescent-shaped blade of electricity blasted forth from Issei's right leg, streaking through the air towards Xinthia. The succubus frowned in concentration, flaring her wings and barely managing to push herself away from the course of of the attack. Before she could do much more, however, she heard Issei crying out.

" _ **SHUURAI!**_ _(Lightning Strike)_ "

The arc of lightning exploded into a dome of electricity, consuming everything within a large radius of the original attack, with the sheer shockwave throwing Xinthia aside in a disarray. The succubus was forced to land in order not to be ragdolled, her gaze cautiously locked onto Issei.

' _This boy truly is ridiculous... The manner in which his strength and fighting ability grows is absurd by all possible metrics! However..._ '

Xinthia's keen eyes managed to pick up the trembling of Issei's right leg, and the way in which he tried to shift his weight onto it only to grimace.

' _He's not tired, but he's definitely not alright after that lightning blade. If I keep track of when he throws the big lightning attacks, I can know when to move in and strike at close quarters._ '

Xinthia watched Issei cocking his right fist back, a ball of electricity coalescing around it before he shot it forward.

" _ **RAIKOHO!**_ _(Lightning's Burning Howling)_ "

A large ball of electricity shot towards Xinthia twice as fast as the lightning blade, forcing her to, instead of dodge, reinforce her right hand and bat the ball away, her eye twitching lightly at the sheer amount of lightning that ran through her arm during the moment of contact. Despite this, she kept her focus on Issei, and saw what she was expecting. The brunette's arm seized up as if he had been shocked, an opportunity that Xinthia used to reinforce her legs and shoot towards Issei so fast that he could only barely follow her movement.

Issei's instincts screamed at him, causing him to sway his head back, just barely avoiding Xinthia's reinforced palm strike that was aimed at his chin, before he crossed both arms in front of his gut, absorbing the hard kick that was sent his way, resulting in him flying backwards at tremendous speeds, his eyes bulging from the impact of the blow.

He exhaled, allowing his own **Tantric Energy** to rush through his body, dulling the pain from the cramps and locked muscles even as he righted himself middair, only to blink in surprise and alarm at the fact that Xinthia was no longer within sight.

' _What the hell!? Where did she-_ '

" _Looking for me?_ "

Issei felt a shiver of fear at the tone of voice that he heard coming from right behind him, before his eyes widened in both pain and surprise at the hard kick that he got to the back, throwing him upwards.

This was followed up on with a second kick to the back, before Xinthia finished by appearing above Issei, her arm glowing a bright purple from the sheer amount of **Tantric Energy** she had built up, before the same arm disappeared.

It reappeared a second later, already embedded within Issei's gut, followed less than a second after by the crack of an object breaking the sound barrier. Issei's eyes all but popped out of his head before he was sent streaking towards the ground.

 _ **BOOM!**_

The ground exploded upwards in a large area around Issei's landing point, blasting away grass, rocks and trees, and leaving behind a massive crater, with a large cloud of dust hanging above and around it.

Xinthia landed at the edge of the newly-crafted crater, her eyes strictly focused within the cloud of dust in an attempt to keep track of Issei.

A soft humming sound made itself known to Xinthia, forcing her to jerk her head to the side to avoid the condensed ball of electricity that suddenly burst it's way out of the dust, before a visibly battered Issei suddenly appeared in front of her, purple-glowing tribal marks covering the entirety of his body at the same time as a light aura of electricity.

"HAH!"

Issei shot a rapid series of punches towards Xinthia, forcing the succubus to _**Reinforce**_ herself in order to keep up and either block or parry each of the blows, before Issei made use of one of her blocks in order to push himself upwards, tucking his knees into his chest and spinning in place in order to build up speed before releasing an axe kick aimed at the succubus' head.

Xinthia blocked said kick with her arms in a cross guard above her head, only for the ground underneath her to explode from the clash, making a smaller crater than the previous one.

Issei changed his movement at that moment, going into a reverse roundhouse kick that successfuly managed to hit Xinthia in the chest, though the succubus managed to stay grounded instead of flying off, carving a pair of throughs on the ground with with her feet during her backwards motion.

The succubus winced as she rubbed at her chest, between her breasts, feeling the deep bruise that the kick left behind, while Issei took the time to get some of his breath back, wincing at the generally bruised feeling of his ribs and back from the impact with the ground.

Shaking off the pain with a level of habit stemming from the various thrashings conferred onto him by the same woman he was facing at the moment, Issei started moving around her in a slow circle, his feet easily finding purchase even amongst the ruined ground and scattered rocks, while his eyes frantically travelled along Xinthia's form, trying to keep track of any openings, or tells, from her part.

Xinthia, however, had so much experience and skill that Issei could see none that he could explore, so, knowing that both his pain tolerance and stamina were going to start flagging soon, he decided to end everything with a single attack.

Using _**Reinforcement**_ on his legs, Issei jumped high above the battlefield. He clapped his hands together, squeezing them tightly into one-another before a yellow haze made itself visible around him.

This haze started becoming more and more visible as time went, coalescing into an actual aura before tendrils of lightning started leaping from his form. The muscles in his shoulders and arms bulged outwards at the flow of power travelling through them, alongside those in his chest.

He lifted his still-clasped hands above his head in full extension before untangling his fingers and slowly pulling his hands apart, a small ball of electricity revealing itself to be floating suspended inbetween them.

He started gradually pulling them apart further and further, the size of the ball of lightning increasing as well as the size of the bolts of electricity that surrounded Issei's body. Eventually the ball grew as big as issei was tall, before the brunette, his eyes still locked onto the grounded Xinthia, reared his hands above his head.

" **SPIRAL ARROW!** "

He swung his hands downwards, causing a beam of rapidly spinning, concentrated lightning to shoot towards Xinthia at a high speed. The beam slammed into the ground where Xinthia stood, resulting in a large explosion that obscured the ground beneath Issei in a cloud of smoke and dust.

The brunette , having lost the upward momentum from his jump and the blast he fired, rapidly fell onto to the ground, landing with a resounding 'THUMP', before cursing like a sailor as he tried to get his shaking limbs under control after having channeled so much electricity through them. Gritting his teeth and forcing himself to ignore the mixture of pain and numbness in his arms, Issei tried peering into the cloud of dust and smoke to determine Xinthia's location and state, his eyes narrowing as he tried to find even a hint of motion...

"Interesting move. When did you have to time to learn it?"

Issei reacted to the sound of Xinthia's voice coming from right behind him, directly into his ear, by rapidly turning into a roundhouse kick, yet his foot met nothing but air. He landed back down only to feel a hand clamping down onto his shoulder, before he felt the world rushing and spinning around him as he flew through the air.

He tried to regain his balance in middair after having been thrown, only to feel a fist slamming into him at high speeds at the level of his liver, forcing him to bite down a scream of pain even as he rapidly changed directions. This hit was followed by another hit to his back, then another to his chest, then another, and another, all aimed at a random part of his body. Soon enough Issei was streaking through the air at high speeds, unable to control his own movement and fighting hard just to keep his consciousness from the repeated, painful blows.

His flight ended when he felt a hand grabbing his ankle, before the world accelerated for a brief instant, the result being his back slamming back into the ground.

He felt a weight settle onto his chest, moving his neck down with difficulty only to spot Xinthia sitting on top of him looking somewhat singed, yet nowhere near as battered as he was. Coughing out at the pressure on top of his chest, Issei spoke up.

"H-how... You were right there when I fired!"

Xinthia smirked at Issei before responding.

"You're getting ahead of yourself, aren't you? Just because you improved a little bit you think you can fight on par with someone that has literal centuries of experience over you so easily?"

Her smirk lessened, turning into a serious frown as she spoke in a warning tone.

"Always keep this in mind, Issei: Someone that has managed to survive through intense conflict for as long as I have always has some sort of ace up their sleeve. No matter how even the battle seems, this one ace could upset the balance and lead to your defeat. So remember, no matter how fast you progress, that you should never underestimate an opponent, and make that order double for someone with more combat experience than you have."

Nodding thoughtfully at that, Issei gave Xinthia an inquisitive look as he spoke.

"I can get that, sure, but... How did you manage to fully avoid my technique when I saw you there on the path until the last moment?"

Xinthia got up from Issei's chest, stretching her back before dusting herself off, watching from the corner of her eye as Issei slowly and painstakingly got back to his feet, before responding.

"High speed movement technique. Using **Tantric Energy** 's property of **Togetherness** , I condense air particles into solid platforms underneath my feet. These are pointed towards the direction I want and I can change the shape, though I generally keep them rounded, and they don't offer you any friction outside of what you desire it to offer, meaning you can choose to make it smooth for a better take off, or rough and uneven in order to slow yourself to a stop.

After the platform is created, I focus almost the entirety of my **Tantric Energy** on my legs for a brief instant in a **Reinforcement** , before shooting off from these footholds. I traverse as much distance as I can with a single step, and, when I see that I'm slowing down, I create another platform and add another step. By continuously making these platforms I can change directions on a dime, control my acceleration, and make full use of my acrobatic skills even in middair.

I call this skill... _**Shunpo**_ (Flash Step)."

"So... **Shunpo** is your ace in the hole?"

Xinthia scoffed at that, dusting herself off as she responded.

" _ **Shunpo**_ is simply one of the various skills I possess, and not even amongst the most dangerous ones. If I pulled out my Ace, you'd already be dead. That being said, your rate of improvement is extremely impressive. Are you sure you're 100% human?"

The young man shrugged at that before speaking.

"As far as I'm aware. Say, would you mind if-"

"I woulnd't have explained to you how _**Shunpo**_ works if I had any sort of Issue with you using it, so yes, you can make use of it."

"Thanks, Xinthia!"

"Just make sure not to screw up and embarrass yourself using my technique, since it would reflect poorly on me. Other than that, knock yourself out."

"'Kay!"

Having said that, Issei _ran_ (more like half-stumbled half-limped) back towards the castle, eager to get himself healed of the battle damage. Xinthia watched the young man go with a fondly exhasperated smile on her face.

"So, the big bad head of the Luxurian army is becoming attached to someone?"

Xinthia shrugged, not bothering to turn around to look at Laveria as she spoke.

"He has this charisma about him... You drop your guard for a second, and you'll find yourself liking him. Idiocy and all."

Smirking, Laveria spoke up.

"When you say Like, do you mean 'Like', or ' _Like_ Like'?"

Xinthia pretended not to have heard Laveria's words, instead making her way back to the castle, while the succubus queen cackled in amusement.

 _ **~oOo~**_

' _Huh. What's all this then?_ '

Issei, after a day of having his ass handed to him by Xinthia, a healing session with Bernice, a nice dinner with Jackie, Laveria and whomever else was at the table at that specific moment and a nice, soothing, warm bath, slid into his warm, fluffy bed with the intent to fully recover his strength.

Imagine his surprise at waking up in a dark, dank cavern.

' _This feels like a dream... But not a dream at the same time. Kind of like when Aquila talked to me though the psychic link._ '

A green arrow appeared on one of the cave's walls, large in size and shining brightly, causing Issei to shrug before following it. He walked through a stone corridor of imense length, watching some buildups of moistness and moss along the stone 'walls' of the pathway, before he reached a massive pair of roughly-hewn, stone doors.

Issei's eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.

" _ **HYOUDOU ISSEI, WE HAVE BEEN EXPECTING YOU.**_ "

The voice that seemingly filled the entirety of his head and reverberated within came from three individuals, all of them female.

The first of them was a small girl, seemingly between 7 and 9 years in age, dressed in a plain, white, ankle-length sundress, the hems of which were extremely frayed, with threads shooting off in all directions, and bare feet. Her back-length, straight hair was purple in color, and her eyes were completely white, with no visible pupil or iris.

The second one was an adult-looking woman, somewhere in her mid-20's. She too wore a dress, though hers was mostly gray in color, and seemed to have patches of different materials sown into it at random spots, and her feet were adorned by the type of sandals one would expect to see in the times of Ancient Greece. Her brown hair was arrayed in an asymmetrical bob, longer on the sides and shorter in the back, with the longest strands reaching her shoulders, and, like the young girl, her eyes were blank, nothing more than the sclera.

The last one was a visibly old woman, the skin on her face covered in wrinkles, and the texture, even from a distance, resembling worn leather. Her hair was stark white in color, and arranged into a pixie cut. Her head was one of the only two visible parts of her body, the other being a pair of pasty-colored, almost skeletally thin hands, the rest of her body covered in a ragged-looking, raven black cloak, long enough to 'splash' around her, on the floor. Her eyes, like the first two women, were completely sclera, though, unlike the white color of the others, her eyes were completely black.

The faces of the three of them were in an apathetic expression, as if they were wholy unable to emote, and, creepiest of all, Issei could still feel their gazes intently locked onto him, despite the fact that they had no visual indicators as to it. The three of them opened their mouths at the same time, before the same voice as before, that Issei could describe now as a mixture of three voices layered onto one another, one from a little girl, one from an adult woman and one from an elderly crone, sounded out loud into the room around them, despite the fact that none of their mouths moved.

" _ **WE ARE THE MOIRAI, WEAVERS OF FATE, REGULATORS OF THE WORLD, AND THE SOURCE OF ALL PROPHECIES. WE SPIN THE THREADS OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, WE SEE ALL, WE KNOW ALL, AND WE DICTATE WHAT HAPPENS. HEED OUR WORDS, HYOUDOU ISSEI, FOR YOUR ENTIRE FATE HANGS BY A THREAD.**_

 _ **ABANDON THIS FOOLISH QUEST OF YOURS. FORGET ABOUT THE SUCCUBUS GIRL, HER COUNTRY, AND THE BLOODY MAIDEN, AND RETURN TO YOUR HOME IN KUOH. IF YOU DO AS WE ORDAIN, YOUR HAND SHALL BE RETURNED TO YOU, AND YOUR FATE SHALL BE SECURED.**_

 _ **HOWEVER, IF YOU TRY TO GO AHEAD WITH THIS FOOLISH, FUTILE ENDEVOUR OF YOURS... YOU WILL SURELY DIE.**_ "

Issei's face, which had at first shown his curiosity, became as if made of marble the second that abandoning Lilith was made a possibility, and hardened even further by the end of their words.

The Moirai, sure that their message had already been conveyed and would be obeyed, were about to send Issei's consciousness back to his body...

" _ **I refuse.**_ "

Despite their expressionless nature, one could almost taste the cloud of surprise that sprung up around them at that, yet Issei wasn't done yet.

"Abandon Lilith? Do as you ordain?... _**Who the hell do you think you are to give me orders?**_ "

" _ **WE ARE THE MOIRAI, WEAVERS OF FA-**_ "

"YOU'RE THE WEAVERS OF NOTHING! For you to think that you have the right to simply jerk people's lives around on a whim, to invalidate the sheer concept of choice, and free will, that you simply saying something will make it automatically happen... YOU'RE WRONG!"

Before any one of the Moirai could say a thing, Issei continued.

"If you truly were the weavers of fate, capable of making anything happen on a whim, then you would not need to even get in contact with me. You'd pluck a fewe strings, and I'd suddenly lose interest in whatever it was I was doing and go back home, or something. Yet, you felt the need to summon me, to talk to me face to face, to try to impose your will onto me. That sounds nowhere near as omnipotent as you seem intent on making me believe you are, now, does it?

And even if you indeed were the weavers of fate, who controlled the order of the universe or whatever... If you tried to make me give up on my friends, my precious people, or my dreams... Then I would become the man that finally broke the shackles of fate, and made their own destiny! Now..."

A deep green glow lit up behind Issei's eyes, his aura intensifying tremendously as his _**Boosted Gear**_ came into existence, sparks and thunderbolts arcing out from him due to the _**Rome Force**_ , and a purple aura manifesting as a second skin before, with all the power and authority that he had, he spoke.

" _ **BEGONE!**_ "

Though Issei spoke as nothing more than a human, the sound that left his throat was more akin to the roar of a dragon than anything else, creating a shockwave that caused Issei's hair and clothes to whip around loosely.

The Moirai were once more surprised as they felt themselves forcefully expelled from the psychic bridge they had created with the young Sacred Gear user through nothing other than sheer willpower, yet, before disappearing, they managed to say one last thing.

" _ **HEED OUR WORDS, BOY, OR YOU WILL SURELY DIE.**_ "

After that, the entire psychic link collapsed.

Elsewhere, a golden-haired woman watched the entire debacle with a massive grin on her face, clapping giddily at the results of the interaction.

 _ **~oOo~**_

' _Pull the air particles together... Create the platform..._ _ **Reinforce**_ _the legs... Now!_ _ **Shunpo**_ _!_ '

Issei kicked away from where he stood hard...

"Oof!"

Only to slam face-first into a tree. Allowing himself to relax, Issei's body sunk to the ground as if he were a puddle of liquid in the same manner that a cat might've done, even as he grumbled under his breath.

" _Stupid... Tree..._ _Stupid..._ _ **Shunpo**_ _... Mumble Mumble..._ "

Hours had passed since Issei first started working on learning _**Shunpo**_ , yet success still eluded him. Every single step of the technique held problems for him.

Just pulling the air particles together was problematic enough, as it took him an average of at least 30 seconds of uninterrupted focus to managed to grasp them, since he had literally zero knowledge or training of anything related to wind magic.

After this long period of simply 'grasping' the air particles, came the creation of the platforms, and they weren't at all easier. Issei's platforms were, to be quite blunt, puny. They were thin, feeling more like gelatin than solids, and any application of pressure had the tendency to disperse it, if the lack of focus didn't do it already. They were just too damn fragile.

And, last but not least, there was the actual stepping. Using _**Reinforcement**_ on his legs wasn't particularly difficult, but a single hard step revealed an issue in this step of the process, which was the fact that he was moving much too fast for his eyes or brain to even manage to keep up. Whenever he attempted to kick off at that speed, the world around him dissolved into a nausea-inducing blur of colors, which generally ended with Issei slamming face first into something hard and painful, be it a wall, a tree, or some other solid structure that forced him to snap his nose back into place.

"It's not a simple technique. It'll take more than a few hours to get a proper grasp of it's fundamentals, even for an idiot savant such as yourself."

Issei, from his position on the ground, turned his head to look at Xinthia, that had commented about the Shunpo, before speaking.

"What's with the serious face, Xinthia?"

And indeed, Xinthia's face looked as if it were sculpted from marble, from how hard it was, however she had a proper reason.

"Lady Laveria's sources located princess Lilith's whereabouts. I was sent to warn you to take any preparations required and to heal yourself up properly before you could be sent there."

Issei's previously annoyed/relaxed face shifted into one as hard as Xinthia's, thoughts of choking the life out of Travis causing a bright fire to light up in the back of his eyes. Pushing these violent impulses to the side - _for now_ \- Issei jumped back to his feet in a single motion, before all but sprinting back into the castle.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Sacagawea's sources scoured the entirety of the northern portion of South America, the entirety of Central America and the Southernmost parts of North America, including the entirety of Mexico, and they just barely managed to pick up the trail on Travis and his little group, due to the emission of tainted-feeling magic, which is Impure **Tantric Energy** of such high density that even beings not inherently sexual in nature were capable of feeling it.

They're holed up in a Mesoamerican Pyramid, an old temple lost to time and hidden by magic to most, dedicated entirely to the worship of Xochiquetzal via massively decadent orgies, lasting for days, or even weeks on end, all in the effort to gain the favor and blessing from the goddess. No one knows when the temple was occluded, and for a long while no one even knew where the temple was, but we do now.

It's more than likely that Travis chose to go there deliberately in order to strengthen whichever ritual he intends to perform."

Issei absorbed all of Laveria's words while absent-mindedly flexing his gauntleted hand, never noticing the deep grooves he had clawed into the wooden table underneath him, or just how fast his foot was tapping on the ground from impatience.

"So" Laveria said directly to Issei "How do you intend to do this?"

His eyes narrowing dangerously, Issei spoke up in a resolute tone.

"I tried stealth, misdirection and strategy last time, and it ended up landing me in the Swiss Alps. This time I'm walking up to the front door, knocking it down, and then knocking down anyone else that gets in the way."

"Don't you mean 'We'?"

Everyone on the table turned towards the entrance to the throne room in surprise, seeing the Red-eyed, Red-haired form of Hylda, completely recovered from any disease or damage, staring at Issei resolutely. Before anyone could speak in disagreement to her words, she continued.

"I helped Travis kidnap the princess in the first place, and then got in Issei's way when he tried rescuing her, so backing him up is the least of what I could do to try to square things up with him. Plus, the bastard tried to explode me, and I don't take that sort of thing too lightly. Bottomline is hat I'm going."

The expected refusals flew her way, with the majority of Laveria's higher-ranked staff being distrustful of the girl, and believing her willingness to help to be an elaborate ruse of some sort, yet two people were conspicuously silent, those people being Laveria and Issei.

"Thank you for your offer of help."

Laveria's words caused every single other speaker to fall into a stunned silence, but before they could speak up in protest, Issei spoke as well.

"I trust you to have my back, Hylda." He paused for a few seconds, the warning of the Moirai passing through his mind before he spoke up again. "And if anything happens to me, you grab Lilith and run."

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you behind, no matter what!"

Issei's eyes narrowed at that, his presence manifesting itself physically in the form of an emerald green aura that caused the room they were all in to feel several degrees hotter than it previously was, causing even the air around him to warp hazily, before he spoke up in a dangerous tone.

"Non-negotiable. If you want to come with me, then you obey. If you're not willing to follow my lead, then you stay."

Hylda met his gaze challengingly, yet she was forced to cringe at the sheer power and will in display in the two green-glowing orbs, forcing her to back down.

"Tch, fine, I'll grab the girl and run if you tell me to."

"...Good enough." Turning back towards the Queen of Luxuria, Issei asked "How are we getting to the place?"

"My casters and magicians are working on a magic array that isolates the corrupted _**Tantric Energy**_ to get an almost exact awareness of the area you are to operate in, so that they can craft a circle that will drop you just outside of the wards that will likely be present. From then on, it's your show."

Issei met Laveria's gaze before nodding. It would soon be time to end all of this.

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei crouched and stretched his legs, loosening them up for combat, while Hylda floated a small blob of blood, spending a few seconds causing it to shift between carious different bladed weapons before returning it to it's original blob-like state.

The two were within the room that was specially reserved for magical rituals withing the Royal Castle of Luxuria, waiting for the transportation array to be completely charged and to drop them off at their target area.

The faces of the two were completely serious, and the only sounds heard within the room were their breathing, and the low hum of magic that was steadily filling up the array. Soon enough the entirety of the magical circle was glowing brightly, before it flashed three times, signaling the imminent transportation to the two...

Before they suddenly found themselves falling from the sky, overlooking a thick jungle, with a purple-glowing Aztec Pyramid in the distance.

Issei reinforced his legs, landing unharmed with a small **BOOM** and creating a small crater underneath him, while Hylda slowed herself through the use of blood tendrils to swing from tree limb to tree limb, bleeding off speed and energy until she could land next to Issei in a roll, before easily jumping back to her feet.

The two traded looks, nodding at one another before they started running towards the Pyramid.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Hey Chosuke, have a smoke to spare?"

"Nah man, I decided to go clean. Don't wanna die too soon, y'know? You should also qui-ARGH!"

'Chosuke' went down with a red throwing knife to the jugular, causing his blood to spray out and cover the first speaker, but before said speaker could even attempt to sound an alarm, the blood that he was covered in gained a semi-solid, gelatinous texture, separating into tendrils that wrapped around his joints, limbs, throat and back before squeezing all at once, causing him to die with a loud **CRUNCH**.

Issei and Hylda kept running without breaking stride, reaching another group of enemies less than five minutes after the last one. The enemies hefted a series of guns, ranging from semi-automatic pistols to even machine guns, before letting loose with a rain of lead their way, causing Hylda to create a barrier from the spilled blood of previous enemies to protect herself, while Issei simply wreathed himself in the lightning of the _**Rome Force**_ before moving. While capable of moving fast enough to dodge bullets, he didn't have to at all, focusing instead on moving out of the way of the barrel even as he advanced.

Less than 5 seconds after the rain of lead had started Issei was already between the enemies, and, without even giving them the opportunity to shift their aim, he let his fists and feet fly loose, breaking limbs, pulverizing ribcages and shredding organs with each hit.

After the last enemy was down, Issei and Hylda kept moving on, before they were stopped by a physical ward that created an invisible barrier around the pyramid, to keep any would-be interlopers away.

"Hylda, step back."

The redhead deferred to Issei, giving the brunette space to do whatever it was he intended to.

She watched as Issei cocked back his gauntleted fist, a mixture of green and yellow energies encompassing said fist even as tribal markings imprinted themselves on the gauntlet itself, a purple glow emitting from said markings.

Stepping in hard with his right foot, Issei allowed the power to flow from his legs, twisted his hip, rolled his shoulder and fired from the elbow in a perfect rendition of a straight punch, his fist moving so fast that friction with the air created a red nimbus of flame around it before his fist connected with 'Empty air', which was actually the invisible ward.

A sound similar to the cracking of glass reached Hylda's ears, getting louder and louder as the cracks in the wards showed themselves as if they were cracks in bare air, before the wards shattered with the sound of breaking glass, revealing the form of Travis calmly sat at a stone throne atop the pyramid, with Lilith bound to a stone altar in front of him by rune-engraved ropes.

Issei and Hylda started steadily making their way up the stairs even as Travis spoke.

"Ah, Hyoudou, Hylda, what a pleasant surprise. I mean, I've been waiting for you to make yourselves present, but I never thought it would have been this soon. I believed it would have taken you at least a few more weeks. Seems that you are more resourceful than I thought."

Issei responded to Travis with a heartstopping glare, causing the Incubus to sweat internally, yet he managed to somehow stave off his panic and kept speaking in a calm tone.

"It seems you're not up to any banter this time... Such a pity."

He snapped his fingers, causing a massive magical circle to appear in the middle point between Issei and Hylda, and himself, before a figure equally as large emerged from it.

It was a humanoid-looked green skinned being, 7 feet in height and with a body builging with veiny, throbbing muscles. It's eyes were small and dull-looking, as was the top of it's head, while it's jaw was wide, with a pair of tusk-like teeth emerging from it and stopping somewhere above it's upper lip. It was clad in only a loincloth, leaving the rest of it's body visible and allowing Issei and Hylda to notice the various ugly-looking scars that marred it, with many of these same scars also being visible on it's face.

This being released an aura of violence and power that gave Issei and Hylda pause, forcing them to acknowledge it as a viable threat.

Travis spoke up again.

"Let me introduce the two of you to my newest aid, brought in after our untimely split, Hylda. This is Derk, and he's a Trogre. Now, I get what you're thinking right now, 'what the hell is a trogre?' , and it's a fair thought, since I didn't know until very recently, but it's apparently the result of a mix between a Troll and an Ogre. Gets all of their best combat-oriented traits, yet it's intelligence... Well, let's say that most dogs are smarter than it. However, it isn't really it's brains that I need, now, is it?"

Derk shuffled lightly, it's gaze locked strictly on Issei, which it had recognized as the being posing the most danger to him in the vicinity, while Travis kept speaking.

"No, I don't need it's brains, I need it's ability to bust heads. I believe Derk to be more than a challenge to even you, Hyoudou Issei, but just to be on the safe side..."

Travis retrieved a stone dagger from a pouch on his back and threw it at Derk. Said dagger, despite looking more like a chipped piece of old and dull stone in the size of an average human, actually succeeded in in cutting into Derk, with surprising results.

" **UOGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!** "

The green beast roared into the sky, it's black eyes slowly shifting color until they were completely red, with the edges of it's skin also changing in tint to the color of blood. It's muscles bulged further, and the massive stone step under it cracked under the sheer pressure that it was emitting, forcing Issei and Hylda to enter their fighting stances.

"You may be asking yourselves what just happened" Travis spoke "So I will tell you. I have just imbued Derk with a... 'power-up', let us call it. It's savagery and bloodlust are currently unparalleled, and it's power is severely increased as well. Let us see you deal with it. Derk, attack!"

" **GRAHHHHHHHHHH!** "

As soon as Travis gave the order, the Berserker Trogre vanished from his spot, causing both Issei and Hylda's eyes to widen tremendously, before the two jumped out of the way, barely avoiding a blow which would have instantly knocked either one of them out of the fight.

' _Shit, that thing is strong!_ '

Issei and Hylda landed at different sides of the Trogre, trying to force it to split it's focus between the two and hesitate, to give either of the the time to counter attack it, yet the Trogre had already locked into Issei as it's primary target, barreling towards the brunette shoulder-first.

' _Crap!_ '

 **[BOOST]**

Issei felt all of his combat-related attributes double, allowing him to narrowly dodge the tashcan lid-sized fist that had been aimed at his head. The Trogre pulled back it's fist before letting loose his opposite one, forcing Issei to once again throw himself to the side before he aimed one of his gauntleted fingers at the creature.

" _ **Compression Shot!**_ "

The magical projectile easily broke the sound barrier, slamming into the skin of the monstrosity that was attacking Issei, yet it resulted in nothing more than a light singe on it's skin, and a small amount of smoke trailing up. Issei's eyes widened at the sheer lack of result, before he had to throw himself out of the way of a stomp, watching as large amount of blood-based blades flew towards the Trogre's back, yet bounced off his skin as if they were nerf darts slamming into ceramic body armor.

All of this happened in less than 10 seconds.

Cold sweat ran down Issei's neck, the Moirai's words coming back to mind.

 _ **'IF YOU TRY TO GO AHEAD WITH THIS FOOLISH, FUTILE ENDEVOUR OF YOURS... YOU WILL SURELY DIE'**_

Shaking his head to clear it from these thoughts, Issei swallowed down his trepidation, allowing his focus to return to the battle at hand.

 **[BOOST]**

Feeling his strength double once again, Issei decided to finally take the offensive and dashed towards the Trogre, capitalizing on his increased speed to land an uppercut to the enemy's chin, causing it to reel back in surprise at the amount of pain that it felt, a small amount of blood going down it's lips from a cut within it's mouth.

The creature roared once again, it's rage intensified by it's pain, before it released a barrage of fists against Issei, forcing the brunette to narrowly dodge most of them, being clipped by more than a few yet now allowing that to slow him down. Finding a gap in the fist barrage, Issei dashed in and released a kick against the Trogre's chest, grinning as he managed to score a clean hit...

"Ghhk!"

Only to have to swallow a scream of pain and surprise as a massive fist slammed into the front of his body, simultaneously hitting his face and torso and throwing him back down the pyramid.

"Issei!"

A semi-solid 'cushion' of blood appeared behind the brunette, allowing him to come to a stop without the crushing effect of slamming into stone at such high speeds. He was dazed, the world shaky to his vision while his ears registered little more than a high-pitched ringing.

His instincts, however, were still working, which allowed him to push Hylda away from the punch that would have turned her into paste, allowing it to slam into the stone of the pyramid instead, the shockwave from the blow throwing him across from where he was at the moment.

He managed to right himself middair, pushing his _**Tantric Energy**_ into a rapid flow through the entirety of his body in order to help him rapidly recover from the damage.

 **[BOOST]**

His senses recovered right in time for Issei to register the fact that the berserker Trogre's fist was in a collision path with his head, likely with the intent to decapitate him, allowing him to sway out of the way by a hair's breadth, a cut opening on his cheek from the air pressure of the punch alone.

Issei retaliated by releasing a punch against Derk's chest, which was followed up by a discharge of lightning that blasted the damned monster away, causing it to land on it's back, the knife that had been lodged there digging deeper into it's body and drawing an agonized roar from it.

' _Okay, I guess there's no other choice..._ '

 **[BOOST]**

" **Sparking Dragon's Cowl!** "

An aura of lightning surrounded Issei, his body being flooded with the _**Rome Force**_ even as the _**Boosted Gear**_ once again doubled his total power, causing him to wince as he felt the raw amount of power flowing through him slowly burning at his muscle fibers.

' _I knew that calling on so much power at once was going to be murder on me, but it seems that eating the fruit managed to reduce the strain by quite a few degrees._ '

Pushing that thought aside, Issei shot off from where he had been standing, cracking the ground underneath him with that single step, before reappearing above the Trogre, punching down at it's gut.

The green monstrosity exhaled at the surprising hit, yet it showed just how dangerous it was with the almost simultaneous counter that it launched, it's fist slamming into Issei's cross-armed guard and propelling him backwards.

Landing lightly on his feet and shaking the numbness out of his arms, Issei called out.

" **Sparking Dragon's Talons!** "

A blade of lightning emerged on his right hand, starting from his wrist and going upwards, it's total length being about the same as his forearm, while smaller and denser blades of lightning emerged from each of the _**Boosted Gear**_ 's already sharp claws, increasing it's range and cutting power tremendously.

In the time it took Issei to activate his talons, the Trogre managed to get back to it's feet, stopping to seemingly assess Issei, the brunette's danger managing to leak in past the berserker state and touching the survival instincts of the Trogre that told it not to take Issei lightly, lest it wished to die.

His eyes narrowing, Issei dashed towards Derk, with the Trogre reciprocating with a dash of his own, before fists met lightning blades, creating light gouges into Derk's balled fists even as Issei was pushed back.

 **[BOOST]**

Gritting his teeth at the sensation of his body slowly burning from the inside out, Issei dashed back at the Trogre and unleashed a barrage of slashes to it's chest, his eyes widening as the results he got were only superficial wounds even when he slashed at full strength, before he spun middair with one of the punches sent his way, using the leverage to land back on his feet before dashing forward once again, aiming the tip of the lightning blade at the creature's heart, watching it bounce sideways again, leaving behind a trail of blood from the thin cut it had made.

 **[BOOST]**

With the level of increased power he had at the moment, Issei was capable of keeping track of the Trogre's attacks and either dodge or redirect them almost fully, yet his retaliatory attacks never did any real damage, regardless of his aim. Torso, limbs, face, eyes, none of these dealt any real damage. If things kept up in this vein, he'd burn out before the monstrosity was downed!

 **~oOo~**

Hylda bit her lip angrily, another salvo of bloo-made blades floating above her and pointed straight at the Trogre, yet she had no way to fire. The first few dozen simply bounced off of the thing's skin like marshmallows off of an Elephant's hide, yet she was still willing to keep throwing more, be it if they served only as a distraction, or if they just so happened to find a weak spot.

However, Issei's decision to engage the thing in close-quarters, high-speed combat meant that she had no way of knowing whether she'd be hitting friend or foe in her throws, despite the fact that she knew Issei was almost certain to go down if he were hit even once, whereas the Trogre seemed capable of withstanding thousands of her swords. The only weapong that she had seen that managed to hurt it was...

' _The dagger! It managed to pierce it's skin easily, and then it empowered it! It's likely that the dagger is what made it this resiliant, to take almost zero damage from Issei's hits, so taking it away should make it vulnerable again. And even if it doesn't, the thing isn't healing from the scratches that Issei is dealing to it, which means it doesn't have a healing factor. Prying the dagger out of it would at least create an opening to allow me to harness it's blood, and hurt it from the inside-out! I need to retrieve the dagger, and I know just how to do it._ '

 _ **~oOo~**_

Issei was breathing heavily by now, a few veins throbbing visibly along his cheeks and forehead due to the strain of the power on his body, yet despite that the enemy just wouldn't fall. He didn't really know what to do anymore!

Then, he heard the shout.

" **BLOODY REIGN!** "

His eyes widened at that, the effects of the ability on it's user still remaining on his mind, but before he could do anything, he saw Hylda already behind the Trogre, her hands wrapped around the hilt of the dagger, before she pulled.

The girl pulled hard enough that she flew a few feet backwards, her muscles shredded by her own finishing move, yet her actions were indeed effective. The sheer murderous _**Pressure**_ that had been hanging around the Trogre vanished almost altogether, it's form slowing as it seemingly processed the entirety of the damage that it should have been taking before all at once, forcing it to freeze in place, giving Issei enough time to decapitate it with his talons.

"Hylda, you did it-urk!"

Issei's words were interrupted by a thick tendril of blood that had wrapped itself around his neck tightly, before even more wrapped around his shoulders, things, knees, hands and legs. Before he could ask any questions, Travis spoke.

"You know, when _she_ told me that you were still alive, I got very mad. After all, how dare you, a mere human, defy the death that I rightfully ordained for you, and cling to your pathetic mortality so staunchly? I was incensed, spitting nails, as per the saying, yet she explained to me how that could be a good thing."

He waved his hand at Hylda, forcing Issei's gaze to shift onto her, before his eyes widened in surprise at her figure. He blood red hair had grown all the way to her ankles, with the same red, life-giving liquid constantly dripping from her tresses, as if she were a living faucet. Her garbs had been overtaken by a long-sleeved, ankle-length blood-red gown, the sleeves flaring at about wrist level. He face was covered in jagged-looking tribal marks, all of them glowing a neon red and giving her a 'savage' look, and her eyes had been completely were releasing a red glow that completely hid all of it's features.

Having given Issei enough time to look the girl over, Travis spoke.

" _She_ told me about how Hylda was an important, difficult to replace piece in the plans, and how I couldn't afford to lose her at such a complicated junction. Apparently, the fact that you chose to take pity on her helped safeguard and push forward our plans.

However, the girl had turned coat already, or, at least Jackie had. She led you straight to me, and told me all of those nasty, hurtful things, and Hylda was much too wild, uncontrolable, difficult to get to follow the plan. So, she gave me another tool.

You see that stone dagger withing her grip? It's old. Very old. Aztec-civilization old. That dagger was a sacrificial blade, something used to rip open the chests of those chosen as sacrifices amongst the various tribes that the blade managed to make it's way through, before their hearts were taken out while still beating in rituals for the Aztec deities.

This sort of dagger is a very rare thing to find in today's world, yet it is also a very powerful and dangerous tool. It is seeped in centuries of blood, pain, suffering, death, curses, and a touch of... Well, I won't say Divine, but certainly 'Godly' magic. To be more specific, it is touched by the power of _**Huitzilopochtli**_ , gd of War and Sacrifice. So, when this dagger, steeped in such types of magic and power, gets into contact with a user of a blood-based sacred gear, and indeed, one of the, if not the most, powerful of them... This is the most likely effect. Like attracts like, after all.

At the moment, Hylda could be said to be something akin to a Priestess of Sacrifice, and that's the important part in all of this debacle."

Travis snapped his fingers, causing the possessed Hylda to follow him, the blood tendrils carrying the immobilized Issei behind them until they stood overlooking the stone altar that Lilith was chained to.

She wasn't looking well at all.

Her cheeks were gaunt, her hair limp and lifeless, her eyes were sunken, and her lips were dry and cracked. The instant that her dull, nearly-lifeless eyes landed on Issei, they lit up with the intensity of an inferno, prompting her to speak in her strained, intermitently-failing voice.

"HuNgRy... _**FoOd... EaT! EAT! EAT! FOOD! FOOD!**_ "

Travis sneered at the succubus princess, before speaking in a completely hateful tone.

"Bitch kept going on during the first weeks about how 'her Issei would show up to save her and kick my ass'. I got mad, so I decided that I would break her. She was forbidden from feeding from anyone other than me, and I would only allow her to feed if she were to crawl on her hands and knees before me and beg. Yet, instead of begging me for even a drop of _**Tantric Energy**_ , she kept insisting that you'd be here to save her, that she knew you weren't the type of person to turn their back on a precious person, none of that.

Even when she went delirious with hunger, your name was all she could say. For a succubus _princess_ of such lineage to fall so fully for a _human_... _DISGRACEFUL!_ "

The Incubus breathed deeply after his maddened tirade, the glint of insanity in his eye receding lightly as he found his center, speaking up again.

"I was telling you about why Hylda was an important piece, wasn't I? Well, let's return to that. You are aware that Lilith is of the Luxurian royal line, the direct line of the original Lilith's sole blood-related daughter, not any of the lust-spawned ones, correct? Because of that, even if she does not know it, she has a deep and inextricable connection to the force of Lust itself. A connection that I desire to have myself. Imagine, an Incubus, those who inherited the gift of the body from the original power of the seed, gaining the gift of the spirit, the ability to tap into the lust of the world itself... I will be unbeatable! I will rule as a god! I will make every single one of my abusers regret it! Never will I be looked down upon because I'm less muscular, or have slimmer shoulders, or a 'girlish face'!

And Hylda here is my key to this."

With that Travis twirled a finger, causing an old and dusty tome to emerge from behind the throne, floating at about eye level with him.

"Mhm, so this is the incantation..."

Spreading his arms wide, he spoke up.

" _ **Blood for Blood!**_

 _ **Flesh for Flesh!**_

 _ **Oh lord, the Skybound providence, may your favor fall upon me!**_

 _ **I offer you, the blood of many, and the hearts of many more!**_ "

At this point, a magical circle deposited a large amount of catatonic girls, all of them covered in various physical secretions, before they disintegrated utterly, becoming little more than a puddle of blood, yet Travis continued.

" _ **I beg of you, lend me your power!**_

 _ **Take which is hers, give unto me!**_

 _ **For I choose you, and I favor you!**_

 _ **Look upon yours moreso than you do upon the infidels!**_

 _ **And grant them your boon!**_

 _ **Blood for Blood!**_

 _ **Flesh for Flesh!**_

 _ **Huitzilopochtli, I beg of you, hear my words!**_

 _ **And heed my prayer!**_ "

The sky above the pyramid had become clouded, yet insted of the usual white, or the grey or black of storm clouds, these clouds were colored a stark, blood red. Red-colored lightning crackled in the sky, striking randomly around the pyramid, before one of them struck Hylda directly.

By the time the flash of light cleared, Issei was struck with a presence so powerful and so bloodthirsty that he could barely hold back his desire to vomit.

Hylda opened her mouth, and, without moving her lips, spoke in a tone of voice that was not her own.

" _ **I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYERS, TRAVIS OF BAUXIS, DESCENDANT OF THE LINE OF SPARDA, AND I DECIDED TO GRANT IT! REJOICE, FOR YOUR WISH COMES TRUE TODAY!**_ "

Moving in the manner of a beast moreso than anything else, Hylda's body stood beside the mostly incoherent Lilith, raising the sacrificial dagger in order to tear out the heart...

"I beg of you, my lord, please do not hurt this one too badly. I intend to make use of her once I have ascended, and for that I need her alive and unhurt!"

The stone blade halted one millimeter from Lilith's chest, the deity possessing Hylda seemingly thinking things over, before reaching a conclusion.

" _ **VERY WELL. FOR THE SACRIFICES THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, I SHALL GIVE YOU THIS BOON.**_ "

Having said that, the monstrous deity took hold of Hylda's arm and cut a thin line on it, drawing a small cloud of blood from it, before pointing it's blade at Travis, causing the blood to slam into him with all the violence of a sledgehammer, causing him to recoil, and fall on his butt. Before long a string of pained screams emerged from Travis' throat, the incubus clawing at his eyes angrily from the sheer intensity of the pain it was suffering, before a wave of _**Huitzilopochtli**_ 's hand soothed him.

Taking the time to recompose himself, Travis got back up to his feet, his eyes glowing purple as he drew the _**Tantric Energy**_ that had been collected by the temple of _**Xochiquetzal**_ for a monumental amount of time, having seeped even into the stones of the building themselves, and he felt his muscles expand as his power level grew, his injuries rapidly healing, including the ones he incurred from his most recent pained thrashing.

 _ **Huitzilopochtli**_ spoke up then.

" _ **I HAVE RESPONDED TO THE SACRIFICE, NOW I SHALL RETURN TO MY SLUMBER, UNTIL I AM SUMMONED ONCE MORE! YET, BEFORE I GO, I GIVE YOU ANOTHER REASON FOR DEVOTION! ANOTHER BOON!**_ "

THUNK!

Issei looked down incredulously, watching the massive blade made of coalesced blood that had run through his chest, more specifically his heart. His vision started trembling, his breathing becoming harder and harder, before he let out a bloody cough. The last thing he saw was the body of Hylda falling unconscious after her possession was nullified, the sacrificial dagger dissolving into dust, while Travis stood above her, cackling madly at his success.

The constantly active _**Boosted Gear**_ that had taken the place of his left hand disappeared, the last thread of magic that kept it active fading completely.

The Moirai were right. Travis had won. Issei had lost.

On this day, Hyoudou Issei, 15 years of age, died.

 _ **~oOo~**_

A sensation of falling encompassed him, darkness surrounding him from all sides as it did. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Years. Perhaps decades? Centuries? Millennia? Issei had no idea about how long he was falling for, yet he kept falling.

Perhaps this was his punishment for failing to make good on his word, an eternal void of darkness, and him always falling, never knowing when he would stop, if ever.

A pang of pain struck his chest as he thought about everyone he had left behind. His parents, which would be heartbroken if their son never returned from his trip. His friends, Motohama and Matsuda, with whom he'd never finish another eroge. Lilith. Ddraig. Aquila. Laveria. Xinthia. Jackie. Hylda. Alba, Ahenobarbus and their pack. All of them, he would never get to talk to again. All of them he left behind, subject to this new threat that was the empowered Travis. All because he failed.

Yet...

" _...I refuse._ "

Self pity and self loathing faded, giving place to righteous anger, and a burning sense of defiance that characterized humanity in general, and the admirable level of willpower that could be attributed to the singular existence known as Hyoudou Issei.

" _I refuse to let it end like this! My family! My precious people! My goals! My dreams! I won't let go of them so easily! I will not embrace this fate that others try to force onto me!_ _ **I REFUSE!**_ "

At this moment, everything changed. The flow of events and timelines, meticulously planned and controlled by the various deities related to time, prophecy and foreknowledge, scrapped. Centuries-old plots involving prophecies, and the manipulation of whole races? Invalidated. The lives of hundreds, thousands, millions, perhaps even billions, all changed at this one moment, where the previously existing timeline, established by the fates, turned into an unreadable, unchangeable, warped mess.

And all of this because the man known as Hyoudou Issei simply _**refused to die**_.

 _ **~oOo~**_

A flash of golden hair and a girlish giggle flashed through Issei's awareness for an instant, before he found himself standing on a clearing. The grass under his feet was soft, softer than any normal grass he had ever felt before. The sky was a mixture of hues of pink and purple, the clouds being the same, except in a slightly darker shade.

A lake was across him, it's waters rushing and whirling violently.

" **Hello and welcome, Hyoudou Issei.** "

The brunette looked at the source of the voice - a sweet, melodic thing, like chiming bells - seeing only what seemed to be a feminine-looking construct of pink energy. Shaped roughly like a woman, yet so featurless as for it to cross over into uncanny valley territory, like a walking, talking mannequin.

" **Excuse me? I do** _ **not**_ **look like a talking mannequin!** "

 _So it could read minds?_

" **First of all,** _ **i'm not an it, I'm a she. It is MA'AM!**_ **Second of all, no, I can't read your mind.** "

 _Could've fooled me._

" **I'm not sure fooling you establishes a high level of criteria for anything. After all, flash you a nice pair of tits and you got yourself at least somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds of your innatention. Maybe even more, depending on the context.** "

 _...A fair assessment. Continue._

The being huffed petulantly, before taking in a deep breath and speaking.

" **You've cause a massive mess, Hyoudou Issei. A massive, massive mess, and you have no idea about just how big it is.** "

 _What do you mean?_

" **Mhm... Let's go from the start. You're supposed to be dead right now, yet you're not. Instead, you're in *****. That simple fact throws off a whole array of normal rules of the universe. The dead die, and that's what happens. The only ammendment to this rule has to do with the Evil Piece system of the devil faction, and it postulates that a recently deceased person, whose soul has not yet completely crossed into the other side, can be revived as a devil. Keywords being Evil Piece, revived, and devil.**

 **There are no Evil Pieces anywhere near your vicinity. You were not revived, which implies dying and then returning, as much as you simply** _ **refused**_ **your own death, meaning that, as far as the universe knows, you're not dead. You never died in the first place. Yet, the occasion in which you would have died has occured regardless. And third of all, any being ressurected with an Evil Piece is revived as a devil. I've no idea as to why, yet it seems to be the norm. However, since you are...** _ **refusing your death**_ **... on your own, then how will you return? Devil? Angel? Ghoul? Zombie? What?**

 **You're a total middle finger to the system, and a massive wrench in the designs of Fate. All versions of it, actually, from the greek, to the roman, to whichever other belief system you can think of that involves fortune telling, destiny or premonition.** "

 _So my sheer existence is a middle finger to the Fates?... Good. Bitches tried to wreck my shit, now the shoe's on the other foot. Feels bad, doesn't it?_

The energy being would have sweat dropped if it could. It settled for sighing instead, before speaking.

" **Despite all of these particularities about you, Hyoudou Issei, you are still a person I admire. So, I have decided to give you an opportunity.** "

The brunette's attention turned completely towards the figure at that, prompting it to continue.

" **When you consumed the seed... The effect you got was extremely muted. Almost nothing. You got shafted as far as powerups go. Yet, it was for good reason. Consuming the seed is attached to momentous events, events of great significance. It's as much about what you went through in order to consume it, as it is about consuming the seed. Lilith was forced to abandon her home, father and first husband. Laveria consumed the seed out of desperation in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives in the battle for the leadership of Luxuria, all with the expectation of not resisting the seed, and dying due to it.**

 **You, on the other hand, had the seed handed over to you, just like that. No effort, no trials, no tests. You didn't have to go on a massive quest to save the world, you didn't have to face down the guardian and prove your worth, nothing. You just had to be the boyfriend of the Luxurian princess, and to have been coincidentally born with a shiny trinket in your soul. Because of this, you have not integrated the true power of the** _ **Seed of Lust**_ **.** "

The entity nodded towards the ragin lake, causing Issei to notice the fact that the water was mostly purple, with a few streaks of yellow, green and red in the mix, likely a representation of all of his powers.

" **Yet, in not-death, you gain a second chance. After all, what challenge is greater than overcoming death itself, all for the sake of your loved ones? I say you definitely earned your '** _ **Continue**_ **'. All you have to do now is to tame your power, and to make yourself whole. And not just as you were before. Now, you will be better. As you should have been after eating the Seed, had you acquired it properly.** "

Issei nodded at that, walking closer towards the lake, his toes almost touching the raging waters, before he stopped, speaking without even looking backwards.

 _Thank you... Lilith. The first. I guess._

Before the remnants of Lilith's consciousness that were still connected to _**Tantric Energy**_ could react, Issei had already dived into the lake head-first.

The waters of the lake ran fast, so fast that they tore into flesh, it's pressure was enough to crush bones, electrical discharges plagued it, and the sheer amount of energy flowing within it promised to disintegrate most people.

Hyoudou Issei isn't most people. And, most important of all, this power is his own. His own power would not hurt him.

 _ **He would not allow it to. No longer.**_

So, instead of trying to hold his breath as any normal person would do when within a lake, Issei took a deep breath, allowing the 'water' to fill his lungs. He opened his mouth, swallowing as much as he could. He willed it tor pull itself as close to him as possible, to fill every single part of him, to fuse with him so completely as to forget the concept of burnout, or strain associated with reaching his current maximum output. If he could generate that amount of energy without instantly dying or exploding, then his body would no longer feel more strain from it than necessary. The fatigue, and maybe even exhaustion from the usage of power would be there, of course, yet he would be capable of harnessing his ever-growing lightning without frying his own nevers.

He would be able to employ his _**Boosted Gear**_ without burning from the inside out. Because he fully accepted his power. And it too, in turn, accepted him.

And Hyoudou Issei was reborn, as more than he ever was before.

 _ **~oOo~**_

"Gyahahahaha! The world is mine! Completely. absolutely, indubitably MINE!"

Travis cackled madly, his insanity steadily increasing, before he turned his eyes towards Hylda. A wave of uncontrolable lust assailed him, causing his member to instantly harden before he dashed towards her, intent on simply taking her...

 **BAM!**

Only for a fist to the face to send him carreening backwards. When he got back to his feet, the sight that met him managed to simultaneously freeze his blood, and to make it boil to it's utmost levels.

Hyoudou Issei stood there, his face calm and placid as if he were taking a stroll on a park, during a crisp spring sunset, rather than as if he had just been stabbed through the heart, and watched the ascension of someone into Ultimate-tier.

"W-what? You're supposed to be dead! No, scratch that, you're absolutely dead! I saw you get killed! **PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED!** "

Giving Travis a mocking grin, Issei responded.

"I ate a green mushroom yesterday, might've been it, really."

Travis' angry face turned into one of hatred, the incubus stewing in the impossibility of this event, while Issei took the time to catalog everything different that he felt about himself.

' _Man, this feels... Weird. I feel stronger than ever. Faster. More athletic. My body feels as if it has a higher limit. And... Am I feeling Hylda's emotions? Am I an Empath now?_ '

Indeed. Having overcome the true trial of the _**Seed**_ , Issei was finally given what he should have acquired in the first place from eating the thing: proper control of the binding force that kept him together, creating harmony between his human nature, and the other sources of power that he kept within himself, all without his 'fragile' human vessel exploding under the pressure, like a glass bottle trying to contain an explosion.

This, however, came with some additional details.

Details such as the fact that his previously crippled right hand had been restored to full functionality, despite the fact that it had permanent scarring along it ( _And even said scarring was extremely diminished from what it should truly be_ ). His muscles had gained even more definition and and elasticity, while his bones gained more strength and density.

And his hair, while mostly the same as before, gained a small difference in the form of a single, wavy bang falling over his forehead, and over his left eye. Oh, and did I mention that this bang was colored purple?

Yes. There were some changes indeed.

Issei frowned as he felt the negative emotions within Travis multiplying at an absolutely abnormal rate, as did the amount of tantrict energy that he pulled from around them, all of it tainted.

Knowing that their battle would be very much explosive, Issei decided to remove Hylda and Lilith from the battlefield. Employing a single use of _**Shunpo**_ \- made unbearably easy by his mastery over the amount of _**Tantric Energy**_ that he possessed - Issei appeared besides Lilith. Frowning at her state, the mostly-brunette broke her chains with small blasts of lightning, lifting her over his right shoulder while Hylda occupied the left one, before vanishing in another instance of _**Shunpo**_ , avoiding the maddened attack from the Incubus and creating great distance between them.

Placing the two girls on the ground, Issei focused on the image of the transportation circle towards Luxuria, using his magic to imprint it onto the ground underneath Hylda and Lilith before activating it, sending the two back to the castle.

That done, Isse dusted his hands before turning back towards the Pyramid, watching as Travis absorbed more and more of the tainted _**Tantric Energy**_ , losing control over himself with each passing second, and becoming more a feral being of hatred and violence than anything else, it's power easily going above High class and crossing over into Ultimate territory.

The brunette frowned, deciding to go full tilt in order to stop Travis as soon as possible, raising his left hand into the air and drawing on his sacred gear.

" _ **Boosted Gear!**_ "

The red gauntlet bearing green gems, and red spikes and yellow accents came into existence on Issei's arm, and less than one second after it did, Ddraig's voice was already filling Issei's mind.

' _ **What in Big Red's nonexistant balls happened, partner? One second you were there, drawing on my power, the next second I was back in the dark, completely cut off from you, as if waiting for my next wielder. As if you had-**_ '

" _Died, yes. I did. Sort of. But then I got better. All due to the power of titties._ "

' _ **Wha-Ho-Whe-Why-... You know what, I don't even wanna know. So, what's the next move?**_ '

" _The next move is destroying this Travis bastard. If I remember correctly, I made a promise back during our last confrontation that I never got to place into effect. I'll work on it right now._ "

Issei turned his gaze back towards the Pyramid, except that instead of seeing the form of Travis, as he expected to, what he saw was more akin to a person made of clay or mud, shaped into an approximation of the likeness of Travis Laucia.

Said clay person wriggled and shifted, it's every motion unnatural and inhuman in nature, causing Issei's instincts to scream at him about the wrongness of it all. Add to that his newly-discovered Empathic nature, and you could understand the level of revulsion that he felt for this monstrosity.

Said monstrosity seemingly got tired of waiting around, firing off towards Issei as nothing more than a streak of motion, it's fist aiming to slam into the brunette's gut, only for said brunette to dodge to the side, covering his right fist in electricity from the _**Rome Force**_ in order to avoid directly touching that disgusting mud, before he punched 'Travis' straight to the face, sending him flying back towards the pyramid, before following after in a burst of _**Shunpo**_.

Issei was forced to alter the path of his last _**Shunpo**_ in order to avoid the projectiles of mud shaped into spikes, before his eyes widened in surprise at the fact that each piece of mud, feeding on the energy that had sunk into the stones of the pyramid itself, gained the full size of the original.

"Okay, this is so not fair."

Having said that, all of the copies attacked Issei at once, forcing him to duck and dodge to entirely avoid touching the mud that felt more like corruption made solid than anything else, before he punched the ground underneath him, the released shockwave knocking all of the thigns back.

 **[BOOST]**

" _ **Sparking Dragon's Cowl! Sparking Dragon's Talons!**_ "

The aura of electricity covered Issei completely, protecting him from the corrupting effects of the mud, yet not nullifying things such as physical strength, or damage, while the lightning claws gave him a weapong that allows him to slightly increase the range at which he could fight the things, which was always a plus.

 **[BOOST]**

Issei vanished in a consecutive series of _**Shunpo**_ , flashes of light and a slight humming noise being all the explanation that was given for the state of all the mud clones, said state being 'torn into shreds'.

 **[BOOST]**

The chopped up wood jumped back towards the original, causing it's power to spide suddenly, a sickly brown aura emerging around it that caused Issei nausea from just being nearby.

The pile of mud's arms turned into blades before it rushed at Issei, swinging for the young man's throat, but Issei reacted by intercepting the swings with his own lightning blades, pushing the creature backwards before slamming a kick into it's gut, tossing it away.

 **[BOOST]**

The creature slammed both blades into the ground, causing Issei's eyes to widen and forcing him to jump in order to avoid the veritable forest of mud spikes and blades that emerged from underneath him.

More than a few of said blades and spikes were shot towards Issei, forcing him to make use of _**Shunpo**_ middair to duck, dodge and twist out of the way, before he accelerated towards the mud thing, slashing it's arms off, causing the entire construct of spikes to fade, while new arms sprouted on the thing in place of the old ones.

The thing, seemingly bored of fighting Issei, slammed both hands into the stone of the temple, drawing more and more tainted energy from it, causing Issei's eyes to widen.

' _Still so much power! Of course, the energy may be inert in stones, but it's still centuries of_ _ **Tantric Energy**_ _, tainted or otherwise, and this thing can absorb it all! If it keeps absorbing, then eventually it will outpace me even at my utmost maximum... I need to annihilate it before it can reach that point! And this damned place too, to avoid any future problems of the same sort._ '

With a plan of action firmly in mind, Issei vanished in a series of _**Shunpo**_ , placing himself a few kilometers away from the Pyramid before pointing his right hand upwards, toward the extremely darkened, cloudy sky, before releasing bolt electricity into it. Ddraig, knowing what Issei was planning, felt the need to interject.

' _ **Are you damn crazy? You just managed to somehow recover your hand, and you're doing something this stupid to lose it again, so soon?**_ '

Keeping his focus on his endeavor, Issei tried connecting with any natural lightning, sweat collecting on his brow as he felt the power of the mud monster jumping higher and higher, it's size also increasing noticeably even from that distance.

' _Aha!_ '

Issei's electricity 'tickled' the natural lightning, stimulating it to flow down into the earth via the path of least resistance, which was the tendril of electricity that Issei was emitting, causing all of that power to slam into Issei.

' _!_ '

Remembering how it felt the last time he had done so, Issei pulled the lightning into himself completely, allowing the power to fill him to the brim, almost bursting from his pores.

' _ **You're going to kill yourself if you do this, Issei!**_ '

' _Nonsense! I can take it!_ '

 **[BOOST][EXPLOSION]**

The _**Boosted Gear**_ , having been instructed by Issei not to judge the power of the mud monster, as it was fluctuating in it's constant increase, but instead to judge the maximum magical potential of the pyramid itself, multiplied Issei's power however many times it felt was necessary to deal the finishing blow, causing his own Aura to jump to ludicrous levels.

' _ **This is too much! Your body is going to explode!**_ '

' _It's not!_ '

The brunette reigned both powers in, twisting, twirling, braiding and mixing, using a small thread of _**Tantric Energy**_ to facilitate the process.

' _ **This will be just like last time, but worse! Think about this properly, partner!**_ '

' _I have, Ddraig! I know you're worried about me, but you need to learn to trust me! I have a plan!_

The energies kept mixing, their synchronization rates shifting and altering. 70%-30% ; 60%-40%.

' **And what would that plan be?** '

Instead of focusing all of that energy in a single place, forcing it to deal with all of the recoil and absorb all the damage alone, Issei spread it throughout his entire body, reducind the maximum amount of recoil any individual part could take.

' **That still doesn't guarantee your survival!** '

Synchronization rate 50%-50%.

' _But this does!_ _ **REINFORCEMENT!**_ '

With the exception of the single thread that he had sent to mix his _**Rome Force**_ with the _**Boosted Gear**_ 's natural multiplication factor, Issei focused the entirety of his _**Tantric Energy**_ into a full body _**Reinforcement**_.

" **THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!** "

 _ **~oOo~**_

If Issei's last usage of this ability could be described as bright, then this one could be called nothing less than blinding. The white beam of energy that had been fired off from the brunette's gauntleted fist all but erased everything that it touched from existence, disintegrating the dirt, trees and everything else in it's path towards the pyramid.

The mud monster, sensing this enormously powered attack likely to destroy it, drew as much energy from the pyramid as it could in the shortest amount of time possible, before squeezing itself into a smaller sphere, as dense as possible, and reinforcing its surface to the highest level that it could.

Said defense managed to hold for a few seconds, giving the thing a hope for survival...

 _ **CRACK.**_

Until a tiny fracture a small crack, appeared on the surface of the sphere. Said fracture caused the highly compressed _**Tantric Energy**_ to try to force it's way out, like steam contained in a vessel with not enough space, while allowing the beam of concentrated destruction to slowly burn away every single trace of corruption, and of the mud.

Less than 10 seconds after Issei had fired off his attack, both the Pyramid and the Mud monster were nothing more tha History.

Issei, on the other hand, was still standing.

Sore, tired, nearing magical exhaustion and with his eyebrows lightly singed from being so close to his own blast, yet still alive, and not at all crippled.

Lowering his gauntleted arm, Issei let out a deep breath of relief at having taken care of the situation, ready to return to Luxuria...

" _Hahhhh..._ "

Only for the sound of shallow breathing to reach his ears. At that moment, a different reaction than normal was triggered within his 'instinct-driven' center. Issei didn't limp, or walk towards Travis as much as he swaggered, a level of confidence bordering on cockiness filling him completely.

When he saw the bruised, weak, shaking and extremely burned form of his enemy, he felt the satisfaction of a job well done, yet there was something more to do.

Finishing his cocky walk by standing right in view of the downed enemy, Issei spoke up.

" ' _I am going to beat you. You will ask me to stop. I will not. Then I will break you. You will ask me for mercy, I will have none to give you. Then, after I have everything I need from you, I will make you despair. You will beg for quarter, yet you will not have it. And when you finally beg me for death, I will deny you that pleasure as well_ ' Do you remember me having said these words, Travis? What did you think back then? That I wasn't going to be able to do a thing? That you would simply destroy me, and move on with your life? Well, look at where we stand now. You, downed and at my mercy. Me, powerful, and filled with a thirst for revenge. What do you think is going to happen now?"

The incubus could only whimper, his throat so parched that he couldn't even utter a single call for mercy.

Issei kneeled down above Travis, his knee pressing down on the Incubus' chest and simultaneously aggravating his burns and cutting off his ability to breathe to it's utmost minimum. He released his sacred gear, allowing his left arm to return to normal before gripping Travis' throat with it. Having taken that good grip, Issei cocked his right hand back, before he let it fly loose.

 **SMACK.**

 **SMACK.**

 **SMACK.**

 **SMACK.**

 **SMACK.**

Again and again, Issei punched at his enemy, a primal feeling blossoming on his chest.

Seeing that the incubus' face almost looked like hamburger already, and not wanting to risk accidentally killing him via concussion, Issei stood up from where he was kneeling on top of Travis, allowing him to greedily gulp in some fresh air.

 _ **OOF!**_

Before it was kicked out of him, Issei's foot still embedded within Travis' gut. He raised his foot back up, letting it rain all over Travis, tears of anger and frustration clashing with relief and sadness as he spoke.

"Kidnap my girlfriend? Torture her via starvation? Try to kill me and Hylda? Call Jackie a monster? Destroy the lives of hundreds of people due to your ambition alone? Sacrifice innocents to empower yourself? Send them to be raped for power, as if they were tools? You'll never do any of those again, you fucker!"

Almost every word was punctuated by a kick , until Travis was laying almost limp, the only evidence of his vitality being his rising and falling chest. Whimpers escaped his throat, and he managed to overcome his pain for a single request.

" _Mer-cy... Mer-cy, pl-ea-se..._ "

Sneering down at the pitiful existence that was Travis Laucia, Issei spoke.

"I have no mercy to spare for trash such as yourself. Oh, and remember the thing I said about denying you death?"

Pointing a finger at Travis, Issei released a blast of electricity that completely disintegrated the bastard.

"I lied."

Having finished that, the burning sensation within his chest increased further, bones cracking and shifting throughout his body, causing him to randomly sway around the burnt ground, a mixture of pain and uncomfortable pressure building up behind him. Eventually the pressure built up too high, and eventually something had to give.

 _ **RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!**_

 _ **RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!**_

Both the skin of his back and his shirt were torn apart, though, curiously enough, Issei felt no pain, and more so he felt instead a sense of satisfaction that one would feel after taking off a pair of too tight pants.

He felt a difference to his center of balance, as if he had a new way to control it, and he felt a sudden desire to shout, to cry out his victory to the world.

" _ **GROAHHHHHHHHHHH!**_ "

Like that, with a massive pair of draconic wings sprouting out of his back, a thick, red, scaled tail emerging from his tailbone, extremely sharpened teeth and an elongated, prehensible tongue, Issei roared his victory to the heavens above the destroyed corpse of his enemy, and everything that he represented.

The wings and tail eventually rolled themselves back within Issei's body, his teeth and tongue receding a bit closer to normal, yet holding a bit of the draconic particularities, and the overwhelming need to obliterate Travis (beyond the usual), and to defiantly cry out his victory to the heavens receded, allowing Issei to think more clearly.

Coalescing his power, the brunette created a magical circle towards Luxuria, appearing within the Great Hall in a flash of light to a group of worried-looking succubi, and Jackie/Hylda. Grinning his usual grin, Issei spoke.

"We won!"

Having said that, he fell over completely, his body haphazardly slamming into the ground. Less than 5 seconds later, and Hyoudou Issei was already completely asleep, this stage of his life finished.

 _ **~Chapter, End!~**_

 **Hello there, the dude you know here, back again! Sorry for the content drought, college is really squeezing the twins, leaving me little time to actually focus on writing. Still, I'll try to put out as much as I can.**

 **With that out of the way, let's talk shop. The Luxuria arc, over (almost). I'll give a small conclusion (and Issei's reward for his accomplishments) in the earlier part of the next chapter. The most part of the next chapter, however, with by the next arc, which will be Issei's first year as a studant in Kuoh.**

 **Look forward to it, my friends, for more humor makes it into the fray this time, interspersed with a few action scenes!**

 **As always, feel free to leave feedback about my story, and any chapter of it, both in the reviews, and, if you feel the need to, in my inbox.**

 **FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	13. Plots, Plans and Perversions

**Come, come, one and all, and watch this humble writer make an absolute and total mess of the well-established universe of Highschool DxD that you all know and love!**

 **Heh, make a mess of indeed. The amount of butterflies resulting from the last chapter is going to increase over time, so expect surprises aplenty my friends. But, before we can jump into the action, it's time for the honored tradition of responding to reviews given in the previous chapter of the story by the readers!**

 **However, it has come to my attention that not everybody enjoys this part as much as I do, so if you're one of these people, do feel free to skip directly to the story.**

 **As always, I will be answering to directly posed questions, or anything that can be interpertred as an ambiguous or open-ended statements asking for a response, so assertions and suggestions will not reliably gain responses in this segment of the chapter. With that out of the way, let us head into... REVIEW RESPONSE CORNER!**

 **'Crimson Revenant' says: "I loved this book, specially with the many details about control and how Issei defied his own fate, but two things stood out for me:**

 **1) How Shunpo was described.**

 **2) The way Issei defied his fate.**

 **Let's start with the first one. As a fan of Bleach, I seek as much knowledge as possible to not only make the theory make sense, but also to make it badass, but the way you described how Shunpo works sounded more akin to the description of Hirenkyaku, the speed technique of the Quincy. Whereas Shunpo is based on sporadic and controlled bursts per feet, depending on the concentration of Reiatsu and position, determining the distance per step, Hirenkyaku works the same way you described this Shunpo. Something which would make more sense, specially with Tantric Energy Reinforcement, would be to familiarize with Sonido, which reinforces the body's nerve system, almost overloading it and increasing the body's dexterity and consequentially, natural speed.**

 **And as for the second one, most stories always have prophecies rule them or guide them, like how the Heavenly Dragon Emperors are destined to fight, or the biggest examples, how Naruto and Ash (From Pokémon), are meant to save the world. What you did with Issei was something which every Shounen Jump character should do, which is to forge their own paths freely without anyone controlling them. If they decide to be heroes, villains or just neutral is something they should've done, and that they're not meant for glory, only to live their lives to its fullest (I just hope it makes sense because I have the feeling it doesn't).**

 **But my point is, Issei took the first step to his ending, whether will it be bad or good, is anyone's guess, but if there's something I wish, is that Issei will follow himself, and himself only, maybe like do a world exploration in the future, and who knows, maybe a sequel where he goes to different worlds and dimensions, and depending on which world it is he could help and fight against one side or the other.**

 **Great chapter, hope to read more of this story."**

 **A: Wow. This was a big one, but let's go through this one step by step. First, you spoke about the difference between my story's 'Shunpo' and the 'Shunpo' from bleach, and how it's more akin to 'Hirenkyaku' than anything else. My response to this is that my 'Shunpo' is not a direct pull from the Bleach franchise. The name was indeed a reference to bleach and it's most famous high speed movement technique, but the mechanics behind it came straight from my mind, with the intent of creating a movement technique that adheres to the rules of the energy that I introduced into the DxD universe, 'Tantric Energy', and it's properties. If the two are not alike, there is a reason, so no need to worry about inacurrate portrayals.**

 **Second, the defiance of fate. Prophecies are something that, while sometimes satisfying in the way the pan out, are grating for me on a basis of concept. Putting the world on rails and trivializing the concept of free will, whether it be that all events will occur as the prophecy dictates, or whether literally all possible paths of action taken, no matter how divorced from the original prophecy, will ultimately lead to the same end result, is not very satisfying to me. Seeing characters defining their own fate in the world, that always makes me feel better, so this is what Issei is doing. Forging his own way in the world. I can't talk about the future in any specific manner for fear of spoiling the story and it's progression, but in general terms, Issei will keep blazing his own trails.**

 **'AnimeA55Kicker' says: "So does this mean we can finally have the first lemon of this fic? Lilith is about to get wrecked."**

 **A: Final answer? Yes, we can, and yes, she is. Not final answer? We already had some pretty intense stuff with Bernice and Lilith herself before her kidnapping. While it wasn't full-on sex, each occasion** _ **was**_ **pretty explicit. Do those not count as lemons?**

 **'The Wolf of Mordor' says: "FINALLY, NOW WE MAY GET BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED OPPAI BAKA! JK. But in all seriousness glad to get back to Kuoh and see Issei get home for a small bit of normalcy... wonder how His parents will react to the fact Lilith is their daughter in law? Or for that matter, how will Rias react to the Crimson Sin Dragon Emporer as a student of her school and not in her peerage.**

 **Well, Time for work, wolf out."**

 **A: You posed two very good questions... Questions that you'll have to learn by reading on, rather than getting me to say it specifically. Sorry, friend.**

 **'Kla Zark' says: "Lemon"**

 **A: Pineapple.**

 **'Scandalf' says: "Thank god this kidnapping arc has finally ended. It was great but it took waay too long for my liking tbh.**

 **Although, I gotta say, the way Issei gained the body of a dragon was done better in your fic than any other DxD fic I've read. And the amount of power he currently possesses is well balanced as well, not weak but not OP either. It's just right.**

 **I have a question though, is he at the succubus queens level now or is he a bit below it still?"**

 **A: Can't speak for the length of the arc, as while some people have complained about it, others have shown great appreciation, so I'll have to abstain on this subject. I'm thankful that you feel I did something better than all other stories you have ever experienced of this fandom has, and I tried to deliberately give Issei a power level that makes him capable of being more than just a helpless jobber in the universe that always relies on others, without trivializing every single instance of conflict ever. As to your last question, no, he is not at Laveria's level yet. Heck, it's unlikely that he can reliably beat Xinthia, who is weaker than Laveria. This is all I'll say on the subject for now.**

 **'Asurau' says: "Definitely looking forward to the shockwaves the Tantric Dragon of Thunderous Domination is going to cause once he arrives at Kuoh.**

 **Lots of pretty butterflies to watch."**

 **A: 'Tantric Dragon of Thunderous Domination' This is literally the best possible Epithet for this Issei, and I have now shamelessly stolen it.** _ **Plsnosue**_

 **'Gaim no Kaze' says: "Damn I loved this chapter. Nice job man, on a side note, when is Issei getting Balance Breaker? Will you give him extra weapons? Pardon my choices since I just watched Avengers Endgame, but how about Mjolnir or Captain America's shield?**

 **On another note, can you make it so that Issei's Balance Breaker becomes similar to Iron Man's Nanotech Mk50 Armor?"**

 **A: Thanks for the appreciation and compliments, my friend! About the balance breaker, Issei will be recieving it when he needs it. As was said before within the story itself, this version of Issei is not wholly dependent on the Boosted Gear's power, instead he has other, powerful, abilities. With other abilities, his need for his Balance Breaker is lesser. Plus, introducing Balance Breaker at this point in the story would completely break any illusion of gradual and organic power progression, which is a huge no-no. I do not intend to give Issei any extra weapons at this moment, and the specifics of the Balance Breaker will be known when it makes an appearance, and not before.**

 **'geoslim21' says: "Ok, I'm going to be honest here. I never read the reply section of the chapter so I don't know if you have answered this or not but will Issei be joining a peerage? If not how will you deal with Riser? If so can you have him join Sona's peerage and just leave Saji out of the novel? Also please tell me you plan on explaining what he turned into in the next chapter. Right now he seems to be similar to a humanoid dragon like he became in the novel after his body was destroyed but more complete and without needing energy drained from the transformered part to undo his transformation but maybe (most likely probably) has to learn to control the transformation and such. (Ok that was longer then I wanted it to be.)"**

 **A: Issei won't be joining a peerage, and the Riser is a bridge that will be crossed when it comes (** _ **In-universe, in real life I already have the entirety of the Riser arc finalized within my head**_ **). About Issei, more will be learnt about his situation as the story progresses.**

 **'Firegfang099' says: "Errrrr wot? (This is my reaction throughout the whole fic lmao)"**

 **A: I do hope it was a good sort of 'Errrr wot?'. Was it?**

 **'zexzakaria' says: "When will he gain balance breaker? I mean all that fighting and coming back from the dead and no BB. What gives? He killed an ultimate class monster so please dont nerf him to be weaker than the devils in kuoh."**

 **A: In the words of my good friend Goku, 'Power comes in a time of need'. Issei didn't need Balance Breaker, Balance Breaker didn't come. Simple as that. Also, making him weaker than the devils in Kuoh? PPPPPfffffffft. I'd have to give up on writing if I even considered doing this after the path that I've been giving Issei. He's strong, and Kuoh better learn to deal with it.**

 **'adam' (a guest, no account connected) says: "es el mejor fics en ingles de dxd que ha salido este año, felicidades y sigue asi."**

 **A: Now, I don't know if I mentioned it before in the review response corner of an earlier chapter, though I definitely feel like I did, but my primary language is actually portuguese, instead of english. Portuguese is a language that is very similar to spanish in many aspects, so while I can't truly speak in/write/understand spanish with the same level of depth and fluency as I do both Portuguese and English, I can do so at a basic level. What adam said basically amounts to 'This is the best DxD fic in English that has come out this year, congratulations and keep up your work'. To this I can only respond with 'Muchas gracias', which translates to 'Thank you very much', or, more specifically, 'Many thanks'.**

 **'CodyJaaxs' says: "Good god this is an amazing fic! Its start is so far off canon that its amazing, BUT! It also still feels like dxd. You still get that feeling of Ise being the same true person, yes a pervert, but also a damn good person lol. I can't wait until you meander into cannon and see how he fucks shit up! I wonder if you will still keep in line with him becoming a devil spo he can stay with Lilith for life"**

 **A: Nope. Issei isn't becoming a devil in this fanfiction. That's all I'm saying.**

 **'DarkElucidator' says: "Kuoh cannot handle this Issei."**

 **A: You're goddamned right.**

 **'OoOXylionOoO' says: "Pretty good chapter. The thing I don't recall is, exactly why only Issei goes to save Lilith. I mean they have centuries-old succubus who could help him hum?"**

 **A: Politics. That's literally the only reason Issei went alone before Jackie/Hylda were available as backup, faction politics.**

 **'stevesgaming87' says: "was this dropped?"**

 **A: Not at all, my friend! This, and my (** _ **current**_ **) primary story in the Naruto section, 'The Voice in my Head' are both somewhat delayed due to my ever more complicated life schedule. Between college, family, health and fitness, I have less and less time to write if I want to sleep enough hours to be a functioning human being.**

 **So, that was all for the Review Response corner in this chapter. Now, onwards to the story!**

 _ **-X-**_

A set of rhythmic sounds of clanking, shifting metal and bone on stone bounced and echoed throughout the entirety of the dank, moss-covered stone walls as a certain individual made his way down a cave. He eyed the glowing walls distastefully, seeing the various overgrown tangles of plants sprouting through cracks, even as fungi stuc to the parts furthest from the light that some of the plants naturally emitted, those which gave a green tint to everythng around him throughout the entirety of his journey.

He stopped for an instant in front of a massive pair of stone doors, analyzing them. He noticed the fact that, unlike the last time he saw them, the doors were showing various cracks and faults, with a few whole chunks missing.

Stretching out a hand, the figure pushed the doors inwards hard enough to cause them to slam into the walls within the room they opened into, revealing an unexpected sight.

Three different women, one of them a child with purple, back-length hair and white pupilless eyes, the second one an adult with brown, shoulder-length hair and similar looking eyes, and one which could only be described as an old hag, with stark-white hair in a pixie cut and eyes which were wholy black, could be seen quickly reaching out with their hands to catch various different pieces of thread that were jumping out of the dresses worn by the two first, before trying to forcefully weave them back into place, all the while keeping others from hopping away. Despite the fact that their activity was occuring blindingly fast, the face of neither woman showed a tiny bit of effort, or exhaustion.

Without changing the rate of their action, their emotionless looks, or even slightly shifting their eyes, the three women, the famed _**Moirai**_ of the greek mythology, weavers of fate and holders of the thread of life of all beings simultaneously opened their mouths, an unnatural voice resounding from the cavern they were in.

" **YOUR PRESENCE WAS EXPECTED.** "

The figure shifted in place, his head tilting sideways just the slightest amount before he spoke "Then you must know what it is I want."

" **WE DO.** "

A pause occured between the two as the _**Moirai**_ continued in their task of attempting to pull threads into place and wave them into specific patterns, no matter how much they seemed to struggle to escape. The figure could see that some threads, even those already re-woven into the dresses of the fates, keep fighting and struggling to escape. Seemingly ignoring this, the fates spoke again.

" **YOU DESIRE THE ONE THAT HAS CAUSED ALL OF THIS. THE ONE THAT CREATED THIS CHAOS. THE ONE THAT HAS ESCAPED YOUR CLUTCHES. YOU DESIRE HYOUDOU ISSEI, DO YOU NOT...** _ **HADES**_ **?** "

Yes, that is correct. The figure talking to the three fates at the moment was Hades, one of Olympus' Trinity gods, and the god of death of the greek mythology. His appearance was that of a skeleton clad in an overly-elaborate priest's attire, with splashes of gold of black spread throughout, and more than just a few armored parts. His head was covered by a white 'hat', and his eye sockets filled with naught but a malevolent blue light.

Hades snorted derisively, crossing both arms over his chest before speaking.

"Of course. Those who have died are supposed to stay dead. Hyoudou Issei has died, yet he walks amongst the living again. To so brazenly defy my power, my influence, and impudently return to life in a disturbance of the natural order... _Unacceptable_."

" **YOU ALREADY HAVE A GOAL. WHY SEEK US OUT WHEN YOU COULD BE OUT THERE FIGHTING TO ACHIEVE IT?** "

Hades' aura started manifesting itself visibly, a black-coloured thing that caused the feeling of death and despair to fill the room, an unnatural chill causing frost to spread around him as he spoke coldly.

"Do not act coy with me, you old hags! You know very well why I cannot go after the human! I am death, the final embrace, that which ultimately finds every living creature, just as I am one of the 10 strongest beings in the world! Do you understand the type of indignity that I would go through if people were to discover that a mere human has escaped my clutches after having been in them? Or worse, if I had to dispatch my agents to dispose of a human, the frailest of existences? And going there myself is out of the question!"

" **THE ONLY THING STOPPING YOU FROM REACHING YOUR OBJECTIVE IS YOUR OWN PRIDE. NO ONE HAS FORBIDDEN YOU FROM DOING ANYTHING, NOR HAVE THEY ORDERED YOU TO DO ANYTHING ELSE. IF YOU MUST AIM YOUR ANGER AND FRUSTRATION AT SOMEONE, THEN DO IT TOWARDS YOURSELF.** "

"Tch." The god of death clicked his teeth, forcibly drawing his aura in and calming himself. Having regained his cool, he spoke.

"You seem to be very calm despite the fact that your plots and plans have been thrown into such disarray."

The fates would have scoffed if they felt the need to express emotion. Instead, they simply continued in their task as they spoke.

" **THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME ONE HAS ATTEMPTED TO DEFY US, TO ESCAPE OUR DESIGNS. CRONOS ATTEMPTED TO AVERT HIS FATE OF BEING DEPOSED BY HIS CHILDREN, AS THETIS ATTEMPTED TO AVERT THE PROPHECIZED DEATH OF HER DARLING CHILD. BOTH FAILED, AS HAVE MANY MORE BEFORE THEM, AND AS WILL FAIL MANY MORE AFTER THEM. THIS IS NAUGHT BUT A TEMPORARY SITUATION, AND VERY SOON HYOUDOU ISSEI WILL FIND HIS END FOR DARING TO ATTEMPT TO DEFY HIS FATE, HAS WE HAVE ALREADY PROPHESIZED.** "

"Indeed? Then I ask but one thing of you fates. I wish to know when it is time for him to die, for I desire to claim him in person."

Having said that, Hades turned around before walking away from the fates, secure in the certainty of the boy's demise.

After all, no matter who, and no matter how long it takes, everyone will eventually embrace the cold, sweet embrace of death.

 _ **-X-**_

The flickering, wavering images of three individuals could be seen arrayed around a round table, each of them projected by a magical circle set upon a stone floor.

One of the holograms was that of a blond young man in a business suit of fine make, a strand of blonde hair crossing his face and a braid falling down the left side of his head starting on the temple, and stopping above his left shoulder. His eyes were blue, and his build was slim.

The second one was a handsome, somewhat beefy man dressed in black armor, a cape hung over his shoulders and down his back, with white fuzz over his shoulders. His hair was brown in color, long enough to reach his hips, and had a myriad of bangs covering his right eye, leaving only his left one to reveal it's greyish-brow color.

The third, and final, was a noticeably handsome young man with short black hair and blue eyes. He was clad in a combination of a Gakuran and a traditional, ancient chinese attire, with an outer cloak that, rather than covering him in it's entirety, was arrayed around his waist, with only the lower part being worn properly.

The three traded looks with one-another, before the third one spoke up.

"I expected Vali to be the one attending the meeting between _**Team Leaders**_ , rather than yourself, Arthur. Did you finally act like the hero you are and decimate all of the monsters in your squad?"

The second figure sneered intensely at that, while the first figure let out a tired sigh, adjusting his glasses with his index and middle fingers before responding.

"I have told you more than enough times that I won't be falling for your rhetoric, nor am I going to join your group, Cao Cao. I am quite satisfied with my placement in Vali team."

Still sneering, the second figure spoke up in a tone dripping with disgust "How disgraceful, a devil of the lineage of Lucifer such as Vali allying himself with _Humans_ , _Youkai_ , _Reincarnated Devils_ and the like. Such a disservice done to such powerful blood. Were it not for the fact that we are all members of the Khaos Brigade, I would have exterminated such a stain on the honor of devilkind myself."

"Hahahahaha!" The third figure, Cao Cao, laughed merrily, mirth still present in his tone as he looked the first one, Arthur, in the eye and spoke "See, Arthur! See how these things are barely more than animals, so willing to betray each other, and shed the blood of their equals! Even those who are of 'old and noble' blood, those such like Shalba Beelzebub here, are willing to kill eachother so easily! Are you truly willing to work with beings such as these without fearing a knife in your back?"

Arthur sighed, but before he could answer, the second figure, one Shalba Beelzebub, responded with noticeable hatred and disgust in his tone.

"If I recall collectly, you humans are still the ones who, despite your obvious weakness, keep killing eachother for the pettiest of reasons, creating enormous conflicts and wars, and commiting the greatest acts of betrayal. You have been as such even from as far back as the tale of the Garden of Eden!"

Shalba's words caused a light tightening of Arthur's eyes, while Cao Cao glared hatefully at him, filling the blood descendant of the original Beelzebub with a sense of giddiness and allowing him to regain his poise and control. Seeing the effect his words had on Cao Cao, Shalba continued.

"At least us Devils were born for evil, with malice running through our veins within our lifeblood, it is in our nature, and it is our natural task and duty in this world. What excuse do you humans have for commiting acts that make you, in your own views, as bad as monsters, devils and the like?"

Cao Cao's hateful glare increased, but before he could answer, Arthur spoke up.

"As... reveting... as this whole conversation is, I believe we are meeting for a reason? I'd really like to hurry this up, I have more things to do than be forced to pick up the slack for Vali while he goes off to fight whomever he wants to fight in this particular day." Neither Shalba nor Cao Cao missed the muttered ' _Missing Teatime_ ' from the young man, before he spoke up again.

"We are making efforts into allying with the Magician's Guild, though results are mixed for the moment. Their leadership is fractured on whether they would gain more were they to join or to stay away, as they have already, though we are in communications with a splinter cell that wishes to join us in exchange for the ability to study any magical tomes that our group can get into their hands."

Arthur seemed to be preparing to say more about the subject, but he was interrupted by Shalba who spoke with the utmost level of condescension.

"While I'm sure this is all riveting conversation material, I believe we met up here for a different reason, did we not? What do we know of the most recent spike of magic that occured in the Human World?"

Frowning in discontent at having been cut off and at the form of address, Arthur adjusted his glasses so that their glare would hide the anger in his eyes, before answering in a cold tone.

"None of the known beings or factions were behind that flar, as far as all of my sources and research say. The magic present there was not divine, nor demonic in nature, but it felt more like a mix of various different things, though what exactly said things were has been impossible to determine so far. The only way to truly know exactly what occured would be if the Magician's guild were to act, however, as I was saying before-" He shot a pointed look at Shalba, though it seemed to glide off of him like water off of a duck "-They are not yet sure on whether they will join us or not. It even that their academic curiosity has them focusing more on whomever the possible source of an unknown type of magic can be, and trying to learn more from them."

Shalba clicked his tongue at that, while Cao Cao spoke up.

"So, the source of this disturbance, whomever they might be, is not only an Ultimate-class being that has evaded the sight of every single faction so far, but they are also attracting the attention of the Magician's guild? Something like this has the potential to either aid greatly in our efforts, or to delay them."

This time it was the devil that interjected "Indeed. Though I may desire to slaughter you lot, I understand the fact that you have not yet outlived your usefulness. This other party could be in the same situation. If they are to be useful to the purposes of the group, then they should be brought in, whomever they might be. If not... Well, there are many ways to ensure that they are no trouble."

Arthur stiffened slightly at the 'usefulness' comment, while Cao Cao focused seriously on Shalba at the slaughter part, but the two of them nodded in (grudging) agreement with the Devil's last words. Noticing this, Shalba spoke again.

"Now that we know what we can and are in agreement over this entire situation - the reason behind this meeting - I believe that we have no more to discuss."

Not waiting for a response, Shalba's hologram flickered out. Cao Cao and Arthur's gazes met, with the first one speaking "Remember that we will always have a spot open for you, Pendragon." Having said that, Cao Cao allowed his hologram to fade, leaving behind an impassive looking Arthur.

As soon as Cao Cao vanished, Arthur allowed the irritation he felt at the mention of his surname emerge in the form of a scowl, a final, jerky adjustment of his glasses being his final action before his own hologram vanished.

 _ **-x-**_

In a different meeting room, surrounding a different table, were four individuals of great fame and reputation.

The first one of them was a handsome man seemingly in his early 20's, his hair being of a crimson red color, and his eyes were of a greenish-blue hue. He was moderately tall, with a slim-ish build, and he was clad in a purple-hued cloak with golden accents. He was Sirzerchs Lucifer, formerly Gremory, the current leader of the Devils and the head of the current Four Great Satans, tasked with the maintenance of Domestic Affairs of the underworld.

The second one was a beautiful looking girl seemingly in her late teens, her hair being black in color and held in twintails reaching all the way down to her waist, and her eyes being blue in color. She was clad in a pink magical girl outfit composed of a midriff-baring sleeveless top that did nothing to hide just how well-endowed she was, a short, pink skirt, with white frills bearing pink accents, which was just barely long enough to cover her panties, though the smallest motion would likely cause them to be displayed, pink and black striped thigh-length socks, black elbow-length fingerless gloves and black shoes. This was Serafall Leviathan, formerly Sitri, the strongest woman in the underworld, and the one in charge of Foreign Affairs for the Devil faction.

The third one was a young man seemingly in his twenties, his appearance very striking both in it's attractiveness and uniqueness, as he had blue colored eyes, and slicked-back green hair which reached down to the back of his neck. His garbs were hidden underneath the plethora of shining magical circles that covered the entirety of his torso, a situation that seemed usual enough that none of the others commented on it, and simply took it in stride. He was Ajuka Beelzebub, formerly Astaroth, and the head of the underworld's Technology Department.

The fourth person was a tall, bald man, his build slightly thinner than that of both Ajuka and Sirzechs due to his increased height. His face was adorned by a goatee, and his eyes were brown in color. He was clad in a combination breastplate and pauldrons, both grey with red accents, with some spikes jutting out at certain points, also red in color, while his legs were clad in a pair of loose grey slacks of fine make. A purple cape hung from his back, connected to the pauldrons. This was Falbium Asmodeus, formerly Glasya-Labolas, and the head of the underworld's Military Affairs.

Though not sat at the table with the first four, there was a fifth person present in the room. This person was a woman seemingly in her early twenties with back-length silver hair, a pair of thick, big braids going down from the back of her head to her back, while a pair of smaller ones went down from her temples to her chest, all of them adorned with blue bows near the tip, and silver eyes. She was clad in a blue and white maid outfit that, while covering her body from her neck to her ankles, did nothing to hide the fact that she possessed a heavily voluptuous figure. This was Grayfia Lucifuge, the wife and queen of Sirzechs Lucifer, as well as the head maid of the Gremory family, the unnoficially considered fith Great Satan, and the only woman powerful enough to rival Serafall's claim to the title of the strongest female devil.

Clearing his throat to get the attention of all others in the room, Sirzechs spoke up "I am sure you are aware of the reason as to why I called for this meeting." He waved his hand, causing a magical circle to emerge at the center of the table that generated a holographic projection of the Earth. This pojection shifted slightly, zooming in on the southernmost part of the north american continent, a red circle appearing in an area somewhere in Mexico.

"A short while ago, a massive discharge of power easily ranking in Ultimate-tier was fired off from there. The fact that the region of the continent still exists signifies that it met with a target of great resistance which ended up exhausting some, if not most of the power during it's destruction.

The fact that a battle between two beings or individuals of this estimated power level managed to occur without any one group or faction noticing it, or the build up to it is concerning. Serafall was the one to have brought this subject to my attention, so any further information can only be given by herself."

Having said that, Sirzechs sat back down, having said his piece and waiting for others to do the same.

Serafall stood up after allowing herself and the others time to digest Sirzechs' words, her usually smiling face as serious as her tone while she spoke.

"It is as Sirzechs spoke. A great confrontation between two strong beings that, as far as my sources are concerned, are unnatached to any factions. This thought is supported by the fact that most, if not all of the major factions are as confused as we are, all of them asking questions and wanting to know more. Unfortunately most efforts in gaining information on this event are being blocked because of faction pollitics. Since the conquistadors were the ones to travel to Mexico in the days of old, the Catholic branch of the church is trying to claim the entire territory under their authority, a claim supported by the protestants, who were the first european settlers on what is now known as the United States of America.

The Coalition of the Shamanistic Arts, a recent group comprised of users of magic of Native American descent of both North and South America contests this claim, saying that the territory falls under their own authority, and they're being backed by the Magician faction, likely under the assumption that this support will give them certain allowances in the studying of the peculiar magics in the area.

Various other factions have shown interest in the area, and are alternatively showing their willingness to offer support to one or the other side of the equation, based on their feelings towards either the Church, or the Magician's Guild, meaning that this is becoming a bigger and bigger mess of tangled pollitics and strained relations. By the time any conclusion is reached - if one ever is - the evidence that everyone so dearly wishes to examine will have likely faded already, meaning that this avenue of research is a total bust."

Ajuka, whose attention had been perked up by the entire thing, seemed to deflate at Serafall's last words, while Serafall sat back down, and Sizerchs spoke up.

"Thank you for the intervention, Serafall. Does anyone else have anything to add?"

"If the possibility is ever posed, I'd like it very much if I were given the ability to study this supposedly new form of Magical Power." The one to speak was Ajuka, to which Sirzechs and Serafall responded with a single nod, before Sirzechs spoke up once more.

"If that is all, then I believe this meeting is adj-"

Sirzech's words were interrupted when the door into the meeting room was swung out of the way hard enough to bang against the wall, the one to have done so being a non-descript buttler whose clothes were ruffled and out of place, his hair matted to his forehead with sweat, and his chest heaving with deep breaths. Said buttler opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Grayfia.

"Your clothes are messy, your hair a mess, and your presentation overall is unseemly, and unbecoming of a servant of the Gremory family, not to mention the fact that you seemingly forgot how to properly utilize doors, and interrupted a meeting between the four Satans. I hope you have very good reasons for this, Zanshuo, otherwise I will have to retrain you, to ensure that one of the Gremory family's buttlers do not sully it's good name."

Grayfia's frigid tone backed by a promise of ' _training_ ' caused the poor buttler, Zanshuo, to blanch, even as the four satans in the room cringed hard, all of them scooting away from Grayfia.

Gulping heavily, Zanshuo showed the results of his instruction as a buttler in the first place by composing himself somewhat, allowing his breathing to stabilize and taking a tall and straight posture, his voice strong and stable despite his obviously shaking knees and pale face.

"An urgent matter has come up that requires the attention of the Four Great Satans, Serafall Leviathan-sama more specifically."

This managed to reduce the intensity of Grayfia's look that had been placed on the poor buttler, allowing him to inwardly let out a sigh of relief even as some semblance of color returne to his face. Noticing that Grayfia had seemingly stopped doing the scary look, Serafall spoke up.

"What would that urgent matter be?"

Bowing slightly towards the Leviathan, Zanshuo spoke again.

"A diplomatic envoy from another faction has come here seeking an audience with whomever is in charge of the Foreign Affairs of the Devil faction. Said envoy claims to have been sent by the Succubus faction, with a missive from the Succubus Empress herself."

Shock pervaded the five Satan-class devils within the room, all of which had heard various tales of the Succubus faction and yet had to ever knowingly be in the same room as one. Meeting the gazes of a still serious Serafall, an attentive and engaged Ajuka and a fully awake Falbium, Sirzechs nodded after interpreting their looks, before turning towards Zanshuo and speaking.

"Lead them to this room, please. We shall be ready to recieve them."

The buttler bowed respectfully, pulling the door closed behind him as he made the journey back towards the waiting room that the succubi had been placed in.

Cutting the silence that had engulfed the room off, Sirzechs spoke up.

"At the same time as a new and unexplained type of magic was detected as a result of a great conflict that no one heard or saw nothing about, one of the most secretive factions in the world makes contact with an outsider for the first time in who knows how many centuries. It might be unrelated, coincidental events, but... My instinct tells me that there's something else there."

The others nodded in agreement, before each of them took their places with as much composure as they could as they felt Zanshuo's energy signature returning, alongside three unkown signatures that felt... _Odd_... to their senses, unlike anything they had ever felt before.

Zanshuo once more opened the door into the room, yet this time he did it in a fully dignified manner, Grayfia noticing with a small burst of appreciation the fact that the buttler had managed to, in the time between going back from having given the announcement and collecting the guests, fully recompose himself.

Then, Zanshuo spoke in an officious tone.

"Presenting to the Four Great Satans, the Diplomatic Envoy from the Sovereign Nation of Luxuria."

Three Succubi walked into the room at this announcement, one of them walking at the front, with the other two walking slightly behind and to the sides of her. The ones in the back moved with a certain degree of military precision, an image that was added to by the fact that they were covered in a set of armor that completely hid their appearance, closed helmets included, while the one at the frount held herself with a regal air that was easily appreciated by those in the room.

The one at the lead of the procession, a woman of fair-toned skin, light blue hair arranged into a stern bun with not one strand out of the place, slim body with a narrow waist and breasts on the smaller side of the scale clad in a formal dress bowed her head lightly towards the four Satans, a bow not of deference to a superior, nor that used to address an inferior, but rather a bow suited for a polite introduction between strangers, something which gave her a few points with Grayfia already, before speaking up.

"Greetings, Satan-dono. My name is Angelique Antoniette, and I have come here by order of the empress of Luxuria and the succubus faction with a missive for your eyes only, the contents of which I am not privvy to. I was instructed to wait for your answer for up to a period of three days, after which I am to return to Luxuria, whether a response has been given or not."

Having said that, Angelique removed a perfectly sealed letter from... somewhere on her person, placing it on top of the table before sliding it towards the midway point between herself and the four great satans. Grayfia, as the maid of the Satan Lucifer, moved forward and picked up the letter, placing it in front of Serafall first, as she was the one in charge of Foreign Affairs for their faction.

Serafall rapidly read through the letter, her powerful mind allowing her to retain enough information out of that cursory reading for her to give it to the next in line, which was Ajuka. After Ajuka finished reading the letter, it was given to Sirzechs, with Grayfia reading it from her position over his shoulder, and then the letter was passed to Falbium, who took the longest to read the letter to it's completion.

Having finished reading the letter, the four satans looked at one-another, before Serafall, as the one in charge of inter-faction relations and politics, spoke.

"Miss Angelique, we should have a response for this missive penned within the 3 days that you have been given to wait. Until then, we will have you hosted at one of the best hotels in the whole underworld, with a guide assigned to allow you to enjoy the sights and air here in our nation. Zanshuo, direct miss Angelique and her friends towards the Crimson Star and explain this situation to whomever is at the desk. A message from here should be enough to clear things up."

Angelique nodded thankfully at that, before she and her guards allowed themselves to be escorted away by Zanshuo, the door closing behind them.

As soon as the visitors were outside of sensory range of the individuals within the room, Sirzechs spoke up.

"Serafall, what do you think of the terms given?"

The magical girl devil seemed to think long and hard, biting into her fingernail, before she spoke haltingly.

"Well, it might certainly... However... But perhaps..."

Sirzechs, too, was thinking deeply about what had been written in the letter, as were Ajuka and Falbium. Then, breaking the silence, Grayfia spoke.

"Sirzechs-sama... I believe that you should consider accepting those terms, as should Leviathan-sama."

Seeing the uncertainty on the faces of the two shifting into denials, Grayfia struck fast in order to get them thinking before they stubbornly set themselves to a specific path of action out of an impulse.

"It has already been said in this same room, the emergence of the succubus faction and this latest supernatural battle are likely to be related, so mantaining good relations would be a good way to find the Devil faction given a priviledged view of the events, so to speak. Plus, an alliance with a wholly new faction of unknown yet highly estimated power seems to have a higher likelyhood of ending up in a positive note for us, rather than a negative one."

"Yes, Grayfia, Serafall and I understand that, but the other terms..."

"Give us a certain level of leeway that would not be noticeable at a first glance."

Everyone turned towards Serafall who had the entire letter in front of her, her eyes focused on a specific line of text, reading and re-reading it repeatedly, before speaking up.

"Whomever wrote this document was very, very smart, and much more tactful than most others would be in their position. While at a first look this might seem like the standard overly-rigid missive from a powerful nation trying to assert itself, the smaller script allows us, if understood properly, to have a certain amount of wiggle room to let ourselves be in a more comfortable position.

And believe me when I say this, but I would not likely ever give a stranger this level of freedom in interactions."

Sighing resignedly, Sirzechs spoke once again.

"What are you saying, Serafall?"

The Leviathan Satan bit her lip nervously for an instant, an image of her sweet and dear Sona going through her mind, before she steeled herself and spoke in a powerful tone beffiting of her station.

"I believe that we should take the deal, with a few extra clauses added in, of course."

The Lucifer Satan nodded lightly at that, before the four Satans crowded together around a shief of parchment summoned by Grayfia as they started penning their response.

 _ **-x-**_

Events similar to those that occured in the underworld were developing throughout the world, a few select factions recieving diplomatic envoys from the Succubus faction, each of them bearing a letter written solely for the eyes of the head or heads of the faction.

Responses were penned, choices were made, and the world changed once again.

 _ **-x-**_

" _Wh-what... happened...?_ "

Lilith found herself waking up slowly, a certain degree of grogginess and fuzz affecting her mind as she tried to make sense of her surroundings beyond the massively bright light invading her eyes. Her body felt stiff, as if she hadn't moved for a good while, and her mouth felt dry and cottony.

She smacked her lips together in an attempt to moisten her mouth, only to feel a straw being slid between her lips. She sucked on it haltingly, feeling cool water slide down her throat and alleviating her dehydration, allowing her to regain more of her wits.

As she regained control of her body and her eyes recovered from the brutal assault of light from when she first opened her eyes, Lilith turned her head to the side to face the person who had been giving her water, a sense of immense warmth blooming in her chest at seeing Issei looking at her with a massive smile.

" _You... Came for me..._ "

His smile dimished slightly in size, though it did not dimish in emotion as he spoke soothingly.

"Of course I did. Was there any doubt?"

" _He... Travis... Said that you wouldn't come. That... you were... dead..._ "

Lilith's eyes gained an almost inner fire as she spoke, her tone steadier than before.

" _I never believed him. I knew that there was no way that someone like him could take down someone like_ you _. I knew that you would show up and defeat him. I knew... That you wouldn't abandon me, Issei._ "

The brunette shuffled closer towards Lilith, leaning his forehead on hers as he spoke in the same low, soothing tone.

"Of course I wouldn't. I'll never abandon one of my precious people."

Their gazes locked together, Lilith scrunched up her nose before she breathed in deeply, a blush staining her cheeks as she spoke.

" _Issei... I love you._ "

Even as they were, forehead to forehead and nose to nose, Lilith still allowed her eyes to drift to the side in embarassment, while Issei's face was locked in a gobsmacked expression.

Lilith, her embarassment overcoming her, started leaning away from Issei, only for his hand to softly grasp her chin, before gently turning her face so that their gazes met.

"I love you , Lilith."

Lilith's eyes widened to the extreme at that declaration, tears welling up within them as she felt those four words soothing over years and years of being called undesirable by her various cousins, of looking at her own reflection and finding it wanting, of wondering if she would ever find someone to love her fully.

She allowed the tears to overflow and run down her face, years of pain, sorrow and doubt being completely washed away, only for her to smirk lightly at seeing Issei's panicking, wide-eyed look.

The brunette hopped back from Lilith, simultaneously stretching out his hands to try to make sure she was alright, and pulling them back in his desire to not accidentally hurt her, as he spoke in a rushed tone.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you in pain? Do you need me to call a medic? MED-" she interrupted him by placing one of her hands on his chest, causing him to go quiet for a bit as she spoke.

" _I'm not in pain, Issei._ "

And indeed she was not. Now that she was more aware of her surroundings, she could feel the air of Luxuria, rich in Tantric Energy, flowing all around her, revitalizing her bit by bit.

"IF you're not in pain... Then was it something that I said? I didn't mean to make you cry, I mean it! Tell me what it-"

Issei was interrupted mid-speech when Lilith pulled hard on the front of his shirt, pulling his face down to her level, and, their eyes wide open and peering deeply into one-anoter, she pulled him into a deep kiss.

The second their lips touched, the two of them felt as if firecrackers started detonating within their stomachs as someone tried to make them feel the butterflies, except they had no sense of scale and made the feeling many times more intense.

The two parted no more than 10 seconds after the kiss, with Issei being staring at Lilith with a gobsmacked look on his face, while Lilith blushed even deeper, licking her lips before she spoke, her voice now strong and steady.

"Those tears... Issei... They were tears of happiness. What you said... When you told me you love me... You made me so happy..."

Issei responded to Lilith's words by placing his hand on her right cheek, leaning in for another kiss, allowing her to slowly do the same. The instant their lips met, the firecrackers made a repeat performance within them.

Issei knew, from previous sessions of kissing her, that Lilith's leps were very soft, but never before did they feel as tasty as they did now, nor did they make him... _feel_ as intensely, for a lack of a better description.

Lilith, too, felt a myriad of new sensations. Issei's lips were firm, hard, and every second that she touched them with her own she could feel a warmth within her increasing more and more in size, in a manner that their previous kissing sessions never did before. Without thinking about it, Lilith opened her mouth and pushed her tongue out, allowing it to softly flick Issei's lips, requesting entrance.

The brunette's eyes widened at that, before he opened his mouth, allowing Lilith's tongue to enter his. He felt her slick, pink muscle flick softly against the tip of his own, almost as if she were inviting him for a dance, and Issei, not being one to disappoint, responded in kind, letting his tongue push against her own, before the two started a slow, sensuous dance. Their senses were on fire, and through their tongues alone they felt as if they were locked in a full-body embrace.

They leaned back after a full five minutes of french kissing, the two of them licking their lips as their minds tried to fully process the feelings behind their kiss. Lilith's eyelids lowered slightly, her lips stretching out into a tempting, provoking smile as he wings manifested behind her, her eyes gaining a purple glow as she spoke.

"Issei... _I'm hungry~_ "

The brunette nodded lightly, their foreheads still connected to one another, before responding almost absent-mindedly, still reeling from the sensorial overload.

"S-should I call for one of the cooks?"

In response Lilith giggled impishly, a sound that caused various different sensations to pass through Issei's body before she responded in a flighty tone.

"No, you silly..."

Lilith's horns and tail too manifested, as did a light aura around herself, before she spoke in a completely sensuous tone.

" _I want to eat you up~_ "

 _ **-Lemon Start-**_

A shiver shot up Issei's spine at that declaration, his pants tightening further than they already had as he leaned further into Lilith, giving her a burst of soft kisses even as he slowly made his way into the bed with her, shedding his shoes on his way up.

The succubus leaned back and moaned in pleasure as she felt Issei's kisses go lower, first down her jaw, then her neck, before he lightly bit into her collarbone, drawing an even louder, longer moan.

She squirmed in pleasure as she felt a rough, somewhat calloused hand take hold of one of her large breasts, and she let out a breathless moan as she felt said hand groping her somewhat harshly, though not enough to bruise. Biting her lip, Lilith stretched her foot out and allowed it to rub against Issei's thigh, causing him to groan out loud as he tried to change postions to ensure that she rubbed his member directly, though Lilith purposefully followed Issei's motions with her own foot, limiting herself to rubbing his thigh.

Issei felt a burst of... _Something_... coming from within his chest. Something animalistic, primal. A growl emerged from his throat, prompting Lilith to look at his face and see the wild look in his eye, a look which caused a shiver of simultaneous excitement and trepidation. She watched in surprise as Issei's left hand bunched up the front of the thick, woolen sweater she was wearing, likely having been dressed in her unconsciousness by either her mother or one of the maids, before he tugged hard.

He grunted in insatisfaction, however, as he watched the shirt stretching until it had no more give, only for a set of magical formulas and lines in a glowing purple to show up throughout the entirety of her outfit.

Lilith was ready to just throw her clothes aside on her own, but she watched as Issei glared at her shirt as if it had personally offended him, before he raised his left hand, a green glow revealing his _**Boosted Gear**_ , the presence of which simultaneously caused her arousal to increase as the smell of _power_ that Issei exuded multiplied severalfold, and confused her somewhat, as she had no idea what he intended to do.

Issei, too, had no set idea about what he intended to do with his _**Boosted Gear**_ , following instead a gut feeling he had, the feel of his instincts telling him something.

Placing his gauntleted hand squarely on the middle of Lilith's chest, in the space between her breasts, Issei felt an upswell of power before a pair of words appeared at the forefront of his mind. Letting his instincts guide him, he growled out the two words.

" _ **DRESS BREAK!**_ "

A burst of power and green light filled the room, before all of Lilith's garments were instantly shredded, leaving her fully exposed to both the elements, and, more dangerous, to a hungry, _hungry_ Issei.

Dismissing his sacred gear, the brunette did not hesitate before mauling Lilith's breasts with his hands, squeezing, groping and tweaking them with a high level of intensity that drew continuous moans and whimpers from the succubus.

Said succubus, not willing to be the only one fully exposed, allowed her feet to reach Issei's trousers and, showing a level of dexterity and nimbleness that would leave most stunned, procceeded to unbutton and slide down the zipper with her toes, before sliding them down Issei's legs.

Issei bit her neck just hard enough to bruise, his hands sliding down from her breasts, gliding lightly over her belly as they kept going further and further down. His hands reached her hips, lightly digging into the soft flesh before going further down to the outer side of her thighs, gripping and groping them intensely.

Lilith, meanwhile, had not idled either. She had tried to remove Issei's shirt the normal way, only for the postion of his arms to keep her from doing so. Instead, she allowed her fingernails to grow a couple of inches before tearing Issei's shirt down the middle, revealing his thoroughly toned, Adonis-like build almost in it's entirety.

Her eyes were drawn to a new addition to his body, a vertical, elliptical scar on the left side of his chest, the size of which suggested that the attack causing it would have completely obliterated his heart, and taken quite a bit of lung with it.

Seeing what was almost definitely the result of Issei's quest to save her, Lilith felt herself fall even more deeply in love with the young man, while the more animalistic side of her almost salivated at the display of his durability, the fact that he managed to survive such an injury, causing her to subconsciously part her legs for him, an act which pleased him tremendously.

Issei's hands went further down, falling directly on top of Lilith's moist center, drawing a hiss of pleasure from her at the contact of Issei's fingers with her burning hot core, her fluids spraying out at that moment and covering Issei's hand.

The brunette paused at that, slowly raising his hand to the level of his face, stopping it right at eye height before he splayed his fingers open, both watching and feeling the sticky juices adhering to his fingers. Drawing said fingers closer to his face, Issei placed it right in front of his nose and then took a deep, long whiff, his eyes closing reflexively in pleasure as he lightly shook in pleasure. Then, right in front of Lilith's eyes, Issei pushed the slick fingers into his mouth one at a time, loudly and obscenely sucking and slurping the juices with an extreme level of relish, as if he were tasting the world's tastiest elixir.

When his eyes finally opened, they were no longer the usual brown.

A pair of green irises, with thick, vertical slits for pupils met Lilith's own purple-hued eyes, causing her to all but melt under Issei's possessive, nigh-monstrous look. Any form of restraint that Issei had left fled him completely, causing his _**Presence**_ to blast outwards in it's entirety, blanketing the room with his excitment and arousal.

This feeling fed into Lilith's own, causing her to sink deeper into her own arousal, which lead to her using her feet to push Issei's underpants down hard, revealing his long, hard member to her gaze, a sight which caused her center to quiver.

Lightly pushing Issei up by the chest, she felt the young man, still mantaining a certain degree of animalistic 'care', raise himself off of her, which allowed her to spread her legs into the air, her knees folded in a butterfly-like fashion, before placing each of her hands on a side of her drooling quim, spreading it open and revealing it's slick hole to her man.

"Take me, Issei. _Make me yours, now and forever._ "

The brunette's nostrils flared before he placed himself between Lilith's legs, slowly lowering his body until the tip of his appendage lightly touched her blood-filled, reddish-pink flesh. Lilith allowed one of her hands to move towards Issei's member, lining him up with her hole properly, before she whispered in his ear.

" _Do it._ "

Grunting loudly, Issei sheathed the entirety of his length into Lilith's virgin hole, something which would have hurt a normal woman, or even another succubus, were it not for the fact that the arousal of the two kept continuously feeding into one-another, the _**Tantric Energy**_ giving their bodies certain allowances.

This was the only reason as to why instead of screaming, or at least grunting, in pain with the first thrust of Issei's sizeable tool, Lilith instead let out a banshee-like shriek of pleasure as her body seized up for an instant, all of her nerve endings flaring at once in pleasure, delivering to her what felt like a series of constantly-occuring orgasms to every single part of her body.

Despite the fact that Lilith was already locked within a single, massive orgasm, Issei didn't stop. Steadying her body to the mattress with one of his hands placed on top of her lower abdomen, Issei slowly drew back, allowing his length to leave her hole almost completely with the exception of the tip, said action causing a loud, wet slurping sound to fill the room, before he cocked his hips, and then thrust in all at once, allowing his length to once again fill her completely, the flesh of his thighs and hips meeting Lilith's soft buttocks.

This renewed the already firing nerves of Lilith's body, renewing the wave of orgasms she was subjected to, leaving her as an incoherent, drooling mess.

He repeated this action, again and again, each time his thrusts getting faster, harder, _deeper_.

Lilith could do little more than let out a series of moans interspersed with whimpers as her body registered the height of pleasure again and again, her insides being hammered by Issei's member until it's shape slowly shifted to accomodate him and him specifically, the tightness and depth of her canal adapting so that it fit Issei's cock like a glove, making it so that each bump and ridge on his metal-hard pole was always in contact with flesh of her own, in order to deliver the utmost in mutual pleasure.

However, despite his notable durability and endurance for combat and day to day activities, Issei's stamina started waning due to the fact that this was literally his first time having sexual relations proper.

He felt a churning in his testes that signified his impending release, which caused him to wrap his arms around Lilith's shoulders almost smotheringly in an act that spoke of nothing less than utter possessiveness, all the while his thrusts increased in speed and urgency, causing the bed they were on to creak and groan as it slammed repeatedly into the wall, before, once again following his instincts, Issei bit into Lilith's collarbone hard enough to score her flesh.

Having marked her as his own, Issei reared his head back and roared as he unloaded within her, rope after rope of his jism coating her insides, and covering her in his scent to anyone with the nose sensitive enough to tell.

 _ **-Lemon End-**_

At that moment, a massive pair of red, draconic wings burst forth from Issei's back, as did a tail, while a small cloud of smoke trailed from his nostrils.

Feeling the last of his seed exit his body, Issei allowed himself to relax, lowering himself down to Lilith's level and allowing his forked, long tongue to glide along her torso, neck and face, before he hugged her tightly to himself, his wings wrapping around the two of them protectively as he fell asleep, the aura that he had been exerting finally vanishing.

That was how they were found by the dishevelled, sex-smelling Laveria.

' _I could_ _ **feel**_ _them fucking from my room! Issei's aura... Absolutely overwhelming! Just the thought of sleeping with him..._ '

The head of the succubus nation shivered in pleasure at that thought, licking her lips involuntarily as well. Regaining control, Laveria finally processed the image in it's entirety, a somewhat doubtful look appearing on her face at the presence of the wings and tail on Issei's body.

' _This will have to be discussed, but until then..._ '

The woman withdrew a camera from... somewhere... snapping a picture of the aftermath of her baby girl's first time so that she could simultaneously embarass her and brag about her son in law in family meetings. Having done one of her primary tasks as a mother, Laveria took her leave from Lilith's room, ignoring the sounds of writhing, moaning and groaning that sounded throughout the entire castle as the other people within had not yet overcome the effects of Issei's aura.

 _ **-X-**_

Within her room, Jackie looked at her own - extremely sticky - hands with a sense of extreme mortification, which was mixed with the afterglow of a good orgasm.

 _ **-Lime Starts-**_

Some time before, shortly after she had woken up and before she had gone for her morning shower, Jackie felt as if a shockwave of some sort passed through her room, the energy suffusing the entirety of her body's cells and causing a massive itch on her nethers that she had never felt before in her life. She tried scratching that itch, only to feel something _amazing_ as her fingers passed over the topmost part of her gash, directly onto the button-like protrusion that she knew to be called a clitoris, and that she knew the function of in theory, yet had never put thought into practice.

A brief thought of ' _Was that pleasure?_ ' flickered through her mind, before a second wave of energy passed through her room, causing the itch on her nethers - pussy, Hylda helpfully supplied from within their sacred gear - to progress into a full-blown fire.

Her hands, in an attempt to quench said fire, went to work at a frenetic pace, rubbing at any point that felt even slightly good, small moans and whimpers escaping her lips as she did. Unbidden, images and thoughts of Issei started passing through the forefront of her mind, causing both her fire, and the pleasure she derived from touching herself, increase exponentially.

She felt _something_ building up from right above her pussy, on the lower part of her abdomen, something which forced her hands to turn into a blur of motion. A few seconds after her hands blurred, she felt moreso than heard a massive roar travelling throughout the entire castle, a roar that she knew, deep within her heart, came from Issei.

And a roar that caused her first orgasm to be intense enough to cause her body to first seize, then shake as if she were having a seizure, a low, keening wail escaping her mouth and building up in a crescendo into a shriek of pleasure, even as starts exploded from the back of her eyelids.

By the time she was over her body was covered in sweat, her hair matted to her forehead, and both her hands and bed were completely covered in her juices. These things only managed to drive a specific thought home to both Jackie and Hylda.

 _ **-Lime End-**_

' _I'm in love with Hyoudou Issei._ '

This thought, as well as the emotions associated to them, confused and scared both Jackie and Hylda. The only time they felt something that could be described as love was nothing like they were feeling at the moment, just the thought of doing what she had done while thinking of Issei with _that_ person in mind felt absolutely wrong, and almost enough to make her retch, and despite it not being as intense an emotion as she was feeling at the moment, in the end it still led to pain, and disappointment.

What guarantee did she have that this wouldn't end up the same, or even worse?

Pushing these thoughts aside, Jackie extricated herself from her bed - ignoring the sticky feeling on the back of her thighs - and made her way to the bathroom, intent on washing the sweat and stickiness off of herself.

If she happened to spend a longer amount of time washing herself with a higher intensity, all with thoughts of a certain brunette in mind, well no one could certainly say, could they?

 _ **-X-**_

"So, Lilith... How did having sex with Issei feel?"

Said question, having been casually asked at the dinner table by a calm Laveria had caught Issei completely by surprise, causing him to choke on his food for a few instants. Ignoring the choking brunette, a swooning and all but glowing Lillith spoke inbetween giggles.

"It was... Intense. When he put his hands on me, it felt like my body was on fire~"

Every single person at the table other than Issei was hanging onto every single one of Lilith's words, including Jackie, who was blushing to the extreme, her breaths shallow and her hands gripping onto the edge of the table to keep them from heading elsewhere, despite the fact that she rubbed her thighs together with a certain degree of urgency.

Not even noticing any of these things, the giddy young woman kept speaking.

"He has this way of grabbing you, each touch of his fingers lights a fire on your skin, when he kisses you it feels..." She ended the sentence with a loverstruck sigh, her gaze turning towards Issei, a purple glow in her eyes causing him to swallow hard as he fought to keep himself from growing aroused. Uncaring of this, and with her gaze still meeting Issei's, Lilith kept speaking.

"It's as if every time he touches you, a new erogenous zone appears. He tried ripping my clothes off, and when it didn't work, he literally made them shred from the inside-out! The way his body pinned me down into the bed..."

By this point even the guards and maids stationed around the room were hanging onto each and every one of Lilith's words, while every sucubus other than Laveria had a hand underneath the table, their breaths quickening. This display caused Issei's blood boil lightly, though he managed to reduce it to a bare simmer.

"Then, when he entered me... He was an animal. His first thrust made me cum hard, and every thrust after that just made it worse."

Jackie, her left iris and the left side of her hair having turned a blood red, asked in a dual layered tone of voice.

"Y-You're not exag **gerating or anything**?"

"I had 15 consecutive minutes of back-to-back, full body orgasms."

It seems that more than one succubus came undone as soon as that was said, moans and sighs filling the dining room. Before anything more could be said, the sound of a chair scraping on the floor had everyone looking at Issei.

The brunette's nostrils were flaring, his eyes locked straight onto Lilith's. The girl shivered in excitment, moving closer towards the young man, with the two of them seemingly forgetting about the audience they had.

 _ **-Lemon Start-**_

Before anyone could say a thing to break the moment, Issei had picked Lilith up by wrapping his left arm around her waist, his right arm sweeping everything pertaining to dinner off of the table before he placed the girl down. Placing his hand on top of her shirt, a brief thought of ' _ **Dress Break**_ ' had her clothes all but vanish into a cloud of shredded cloth, before he withdrew his hard member from within his pants, devouring Lilith's mouth with his own as he thrust into her, causing her to moan into his mouth.

The various succubi around them could only stare at their brazenness at first with stupefaction, and then with growing arousal as they watched the animallistic way with which the young man claimed Lilith's body, the table underneath them shaking. The girl wrapped her legs around Issei's waist and her arms around his neck, shoving her own face into the crook of his neck and taking a deep whiff of the smell that she could only describe as 'Issei', her lips planting soft kisses along his jawline and neck which just inflamed the young man further.

Using his hands to untangle Lilith's legs from his waist, Issei lifted both of her legs over his shoulders before driving into her deeper than before, causing her body to tremble as she recieved her second orgasm of the moment - the first one having been when she smelled him - before he felt his own end coming. This time, more aware of what he was doing than before, Issei withdrew himself from Lilith's quim, his release covering her from head to thighs in his thick, plentiful jism.

Issei let out a sigh of pleasure, the haze receding from his mind as his lust abated. As his rational thought returned, so did his awareness of the situation. He had just picked Lilith up and fucked her during dinner, on top of the table, in front of her mother and a whole lot of other women. He was deader than dead.

His gaze seeking out Laveria where he felt her presence, Issei's jaw dropped almost to the ground in shock at the sight of the Luxurian queen openly masturbating at the sight of him fucking her only child, her dress hiked up to display her massive, pink-tipped breasts, one of which she fondled without hesitation, and her moist centered, which was topped by a neatly-trimmed triangle of pink fuzz that revealed that yes, the carpets do match the drapes.

The empress, noticing the attention of the young man on her, licked her lips suggestively before lifting her breast up, slipping her nipple into her own mouth and sucking hard enough for her cheeks to hollow out, even as the pace of her hand on her wet center increased. He half-lidded eyes just screamed 'FUCK ME!' at Issei, causing the brunette to swallow any sort of trepidation, the animalistic haze creeping back into his mind as his arousal increased.

He flexed his muscles once, causing the entirety of his clothes to outright explode away from him, which caused Laveria to let out another groan of arousal, before he walked towards her. Reaching Laveria, Issei placed his right hand above the one she had rubbing her gash and added to her motions with those of his own, while his other hand found her free breast, lifting it into his own mouth. He allowed the tip of his tongue to glide around the areola, completely avoiding the nipple proper and causing Laveria to groan at that.

The woman released her breast, allowing it to fall out of her mouth and onto Issei's face, a state of affairs that more than pleased him, before she placed that hand on the back of Issei's head and pushed him further into her chest. Taking this as his prompt, Issei finally allowed his tongue to lambast Laveria's nipple, before he sucked on the breast almost hard enough to make the nipple sore. Just as he was about to cross the line from 'intense' into 'uncomfortable', a flash of awareness had him release that nipple. As he did, he nipped the pale flesh of her breast, leaving behind some light bruises, before he took the opposite breast into his mouth and, without any delays, sucked hard on the nipple.

This time, rather than simply suck on the nipple, Issei allowed his teeth to just barely graze the sensitive flesh, before actually nibbling lightly on it, causing goosebumps to rise all over Laveria's body.

Another flash of inspiration had Issei gathering the massive amounts of moistness flowing from Laveria's quim, covering his fingers in it before slowly and softly pushing his index and middle finger into her hole, drawing a long moan from the woman.

Pushing in and out, Issei slowly picked up the pace with his fingers, while his mouth left the breast and headed for Laveria's face. He licked her cheek, then did so again to the corner of her mouth, before licking her lips. The pinkette succubus opened her mouth wide, sticking her tongue out in wanton lust only for Issei to take her tongue into his mouth and suck hard.

The woman groaned in arousal at that, pushing Issei away from her by the chest before calling out.

"Get over here and _Fuck me!_ "

The haze started falling over the brunette again as he lined himself up with Laveria, his left hand grabbing her thigh while his right one took hold of her waist, however, before he could enter into her, Laveria's voice filled his ears.

"Control yourself, Issei! I want to fuck the young man that said to my face that he'd fight me to the death to save his girlfriend after feeling some of my presence, not the animal that returned from the battle with Travis!"

These words acted like a switch in Issei's mind, causing the animalistic haze to pull away completely, though the lustful one still remained. Before he could say a thing, Laveria pulled him down into a kiss, her leg wrapping around his behing and pulling him inside her opening, causing the two to groan into the kiss.

His hips reflexively thrusting, the brunette spoke up.

"W-what the hell was that?"

Not taking a beak in her undulations, her waist moving sinuously in a manner reminiscent of a snake, Laveria still somehow had the awareness to speak coherently.

"Yo-hnng-you were... huff... different. Changed."

The two of them let out a long groan as Issei performed a particularly deep stroke, before Laveria spoke up again.

"You weren't in- hah - control of yourself. Every time you... hnng, huff... got aroused, you lost control of yourself."

Grunting as he sped up his thrusts, Issei responded.

"Hah... Huff... That's... bad... I can't... just lose it... every time I... get aroused!"

"Don't worry... hng... Issei! You gained con-aaaaah-trol of yourself once, you can -hah- do it again! All it requires is training!"

Feeling his end coming, Issei placed both hands on top of Laveria's hips and sped up his thrusts further, jackhammering into Laveria, causing the succubus empress to moan incoherently, her hands gripping Issei's hair tightly as she whispered right into his ear.

"Cum! Inside of me! Fill me up! Mark me with your scent!"

Despite the fact that 'the animal' was safely kept away, the last setence caused Issei to lose himself and simply unload within Laveria, which triggered a massive orgasm for the empress, the feeling of the _**Tantric Energy**_ -rich seed painting her insides being matched by only one other.

The brunette withdrew himself from Laveria, watching as the empress spread her hole open, scooping up a few fingers' worth of his come and taking it into her mouth, swallowing it as if it were the most delicious of treats, which caused him to groan at that, his member twitching lightly as his arousal and his sexual exhaustion fought one another.

He was suprised, once again, when a pair of arms wrapped around his neck, before Xinthia's voice sounded in his ear.

"Forgetting about me, Issei?"

The brunette shivered at the tone, before speaking up.

"As much as I'd love to give you some of my... attention... and believe me, after the way you beat me down day after that, that desire is not at all small... I'm dry. The mind is willing, but the flesh is spongy, and bruised."

Xinthia took Issei's member into her hand, marveling at the size, weight and sheer girth of the thing, before she stroked it lightly, noticing Issei's wincing even as his member twitched lightly. She frowned for an instant, before a sight from the corner of her eye had her smirking. Stroking him slowly in order not to hurt him, she whispered into his ear.

" _Are you sure you're dry? Absolutely done? That nothing else will manage to get it up?_ "

"At this moment, I'm barely even feeling it attached to me."

" _Mhm, are you sure? Even if I showed you something like this?_ "

Having said that, Xinthia turned Issei around, making his gaze fall on a scene from some of his most erotic dreams.

Lilith, whose body he had covered in his jism, was being licked dry by the various succubi around her, with the occasional fight breaking out between two or three different succubi over a specific strand of his semen, which resulted in the forcibly kissing eachother in order to suck his seed out of the other's mouth.

Kneeling in front of Lilith was another succubus, a greenette, who was simultaneously sucking as much of his seed from her quim as possible, and stimulating her with her tongue and lips, bringing the near-catatonic gear into another set of orgasms.

This sight was enough to give Issei's flagging stamina one last push, causing his weary soldier to regain a last burst of energy and eagerly salute Xinthia, the influx of _**Tantric Energy**_ dulling any soreness.

The trainer increased the speed of her stroking, enjoying the simultaneously hard and soft feeling of the pole of flesh, even as she nipped Issei's neck.

Being taken care of like this by someone who beat him up on an almost daily basis under the guise of training, however, grated on Issei's nerves. He felt the 'haze' coming, forcing him to focus on pushing it back, a task which was not made any easier by the light stroking of his member, yet he managed to do it, if just barely. However, he did not push it back in it's entirety. He pushed away the part which would have made him a thoughtless animal because he disliked the loss of control over his own actions, yet his outer self agreed with the 'animal' in his desire to utterly dominate Xinthia.

This desire came to bear when Issei grabbed Xinthia's wrist, pulling her hand away from his member and turning around within her personal space, lifting her by the waist and carrying her to a wall, pinning her there.

The auburn-haired warrior succubus was about to try to dominate Issei again, only for her eyes to widen as her legs involuntarily wrapped around his waist.

" _ **DRESS BREAK!**_ "

Issei's snarled technique caused Xinthia's clothes to be reduced into little more than cloth dust, before he forcefully cupped her mound, his teeth nipping at her neck and drawing moans from her. He roughly pushed his middle and ring fingers into her already wet hole, feeling it moisten further and quiver at the invasion. Following another cue from his instinct, Issei curled his fingers towards the roof of Xinthia's hole and made a 'come hither' motion, causing Xinthia to gasp breathlesslty as if she had a large weight settled onto her chest, her back arching away from the wall, while Issei's other hand roughly grasped onto her buttock, kneading it hard.

Xinthia felt herself getting closer and closer, however her unwillingness to submit made her forcefully push herself away from the wall, causing Issei to fall onto the ground on his back with her straddling his torso. The woman rubbed her gash on top of Issei's chest, covering him in her juices, before planting her quim directly on top of Issei's mouth.

Despite allowing his tongue to spear into Xinthia's hole, he did not allow her to keep the full initiative. He forcefully flipped her around while still on top of his face, before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her down, causing her to fall over him in a classic 69 position, with his flesh pole poking her cheek.

Xinthia, feeling curious about it, allowed herself a close look, her hand turning it this way and that, allowing her to spot every detail of the member. Taking a deep whiff of it, Xinthia felt a different sort of hunger awaken within her, allowing her tongue to flick out of her mouth for an instant and take a small lick of the purplish-looking head. She smacked her lips, neither liking nor disliking the taste, buth rather feeling more and more curious about it.

That is, until her tongue dabbed at the tiny slit at the center of the head, gathering a small bead of a salty, slimy/sticky substance.

" _Hahhhhhhh~_ "

Xinthia's eyes gained a familiar purple hue, her horns manifesting physically as she licked and dabbed at the slit again and again, trying to gather more of the _divine-tasting_ substance on her tongue. Before long she had Issei grunting unhappily at the teasing pace, causing the brunette to grip the back of her head, lining her mouth up with his pole...

And shoving her down.

She felt the entirety of Issei's meat pole violating her mouth and throat, yet she did not feel whatever gag reflex she should have trigger, and instead she felt her throat distending, shifting and writhing to both accomodate this invader, and to milk it for all it's worth.

Having trapped Xinthia's head in place, Issei thrust upwards into her throat again and again, causing it to bulge obscenely. After a lifetime of structures, order, authority and control, feeling this sort of thing... Having her ability to choose and her control just completely taken away from her by someone that she wouldn't hesitate to say she trusted with her life... This was the first time Xinthia felt such bliss. In wanting to keep feeling it, she flexed her throat, swallowing in rhythm with every single one of Issei's thrusts and causing the brunette to grit his teeth at the surprising sensation.

He felt a churning in his balls that for an instant made him consider just unloading within Xinthia's throat, yet he managed to curb his enthusiasm, pulling Xinthia up by the hair and releasing his pole from her body, revealing the fact that it was covered in a slick, clear-colored fluid, twitching as Issei forcefully pushed down on his impending orgasm, even as Xinthia stared at the pole longingly.

Issei lifted Xinthia off of his body, taking a deep breath as he pulled himself back from the brink of an orgasm, before he called out to Xinthia.

"On all fours."

The headstrong, proud succubus with a naturally dominating nature assumed the position Issei ordered - not told, nor suggested, but ordered - her to with not a peep of reluctance, and instead a level of willingness shown in both her eyes, her face, and the drooling, trembling slit between her legs.

Issei got up onto his knees and moved towards Xinthia, lining himself up with her opening, only for her unusually reserved voice, it's tone nothing if not submissive, to interrupt him.

"Ummm... This is the first time I've taken a man... Please... Take it easy on me..."

These words caused everything in Issei's awareness to gain a purple tint for an instant, before he thrust into Xinthia with the same level of reservation that he gave to Lilith during their first time, which was none.

Xinthia's pussy was the tightest one he had felt so far. While Lilith's was initially of a natural shape close to the shape of his own cock, and then eventually shifted to fit him and him alone, and Laveria was both somewhat naturally wider than Lilith, and already had given birth to a child, Xinthia's was so tight around Issei's cock that he felt almost as if she were trying to crush him, however this tightness also affected her, causing her to howl out in pleasure. However, a question went through Issei's mind, and he did not hesitate in asking Xinthia in her present state.

"Xinthia, you told me that this was your first time with a man, yet I did not feel your hymen... Did you tear it in training?"

"...No, master. While this is indeed my first time with a man, I have had many female lovers before, and we have made use of various toys - hnng - but none were ever as big as you, nor did they fill me up as you do!"

Hearing everything that he needed to hear, Issei started stroking hard into Xinthia's body, fighting against the almost crushing grip of her quim to repeatedly retreat from her, only to slam back in fully, up to the point where she was accomodating enough to allow him a little more give, some more movement space.

Leaning forward over Xinthia's back, Issei grabbed her hair hard with his right hand, pulling back on it harshly enough to cause some discomfort, yet not hard enough to take her away from the pleasure, rather, this tugging caused her to gush all over Issei's thighs in a mini orgasm, causing him to finally put the pieces together.

' _She's a total masochist!_ '

This conclusion had Issei tugging on her hair again as he withdrew from her warm pocket, but, simultaneously with his thrust, he used his free hand to lay a hard smack onto one of her buttocks.

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ "

Xinthia's orgasm was intense and drawn out, her walls constantly writhing around Issei's pole with a grip alternating between the tightness of a vise, and a moderately intense massage, which caused Issei's orgasm to draw closer. Feeling himself close to cumming, Issei pretty much forgot the meaning of limits, alternating between tugging on Xinthia's hair as hard and as often as his instinct allowed him to get away with before giving him a warning, and delivering alternating spanks to her buttocks, with a few smacks to her thighs and the sides of her breasts for variety, each of which caused her to squirt in another mini orgasm.

Feeling himself on the edge of unloading within Xinthia, Issei decided to go for a grand finale. Gathering as many of Xinthia's juices as he could on his right index finger, Issei keep up with his thrusts, however, just as he was about to cum, he used his left hand to lay a smack on Xinthia's left buttock, before gripping it, spreading it open... And inserting his slick finger into her smooth, pink-colored Anus.

The succubus seized up entirely, her body freezing like a machine that had just been turned off, the tightness of her quim increasing so much that Issei felt himself get trapped within her, not that it made much difference as his orgasm struck him like a sledgehammer to the back of the head.

Stars invaded his vision even as he felt like his soul was being drained through his balls - figuratively, of course - causing him to lose all strength in his limbs and to fall backwards onto the floor as soon as Xinthia's depths unclenched, something which coincided with the masochistic woman's sudden, shuddering intake of air, her brain finally managing to reset after the orgasm that had struck her, the sheer amount and intensity of pleasure signals flooding her forcing her brain into temporarily shutting down. Despite the fact that she couldn't do anything during that time period, both her body and mind had registered the sensation, and saved it amongst the most precious types of information possible, while the aftershocks of such an intense orgasm forced the strength away from her limbs, causing her to fall on top of Issei before falling asleep altogether.

 _ **-Lemon End-**_

He felt more bodies surrounding him, looking towards his right to see Lilith cuddling into him, breathing his scent in deeply before allowing herself to doze off as well, before looking towards his left, only to meet the gaze of a grinning Laveria.

"Who would've thought that 'The demon of the Arena' Xinthia would secretly be a masochist, ne?"

Blushing lightly at the question, Issei shrugged - as much as he could without displacing either Lilith or Laveria - before answering.

"I have no idea either. I'll just chalk it up to the usual craziness of my life."

This caused Laveria's face to turn serious, before she spoke.

"Speaking of craziness..."

Issei interrupted her in a similarly serious tone.

"Yeah. After you warned me about it, I started feeling it every time I was about to lose control."

"Do you have any idea about what's causing this?"

Thinking somewhat intensely, Issei tried to recall as many of his recent memories as possible, before something was shaken loose within his mind. It was the memory of Travis' last moments, however, instead of the slightly dreamlike feeling that this memory always gave him, with te addition of a white 'mist' after the death of the incubus, he got the memory in it's entirety, including the unusual sensations he felt, his physical changed, and his last words after he had reached Luxuria, before falling unconscious.

"I... I think I turned into a dragon. At least, somewhat."

Seeing Laveria's curious look, Issei explained the entirety of the story, from his death, all the way to falling unconscious in Luxuria. The succubus leader took it all in with calm and poise, before speaking.

"This... Might be a secondary effect of this 'acceptance of powers' that you did. The _**Boosted Gear**_ , being your sacred gear, was already connected to your soul in an almost inextricable manner. By submerging yourself in all of your powers, and with the presence of _**Tantric Energy**_ , and it's property of togetherness, you might have been affected by some sort of contamination from the energy of the Gear itself, or from the Welsh Dragon that is sealed within it."

Issei nodded lightly at that, before a massive yawn emerged from him, prompting Laveria to chuckle before speaking up again.

"Well, I don't think it's much of a reason to worry, since it's something coming from within you, rather than an intrusion into your powers. Plus, from what you've shown here, you can likely keep this under control. Since you leave for home soon enough, I'm sure Lilith and Xinthia have plans to keep you almost constantly within themselves, and I, too, have various plans with your delicious, sexy body. I'm sure that between the three of us, and whichever other maid or guard of the castle that manages to go a round with you, you'll have everything under strict control before you leave."

Nodding lightly at that, Issei yawned one last time before his eyes slowly closed, with him falling asleep in 5 seconds flat. Chuckling at that, Laveria pulled the boy's head between her breasts, allowing him to use them as a pillow, before going to sleep herself, lulled by the comfortable body warmth of the young man.

 _ **-x-**_

"Man, I can't believe that it's already time for me to head back home! I mean, I miss my parents and my friends and all, but... I'm also going to miss it here!"

Laveria smirked slightly at Issei, speaking up in a teasing tone.

"I'm sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that you've had two straight weeks of no-barrels-held sex, wherenever and wherever the mood struck you and the other side of the equation."

Blushing lightly and scratching his cheek sheepishly, Issei spoke.

"Well, that too. I'm sure that were it not for magic, my penis would have to stay in a cast for a few months at least, and I'd be the father of enough children to field a few soccer teams."

"We're in germany, Issei, we call it football here."

"I'm japanese. Soccer."

Chuckling lightly, Laveria allowed her gaze to turn towards Lilith, who was trying her best not to cry at the premise of being apart from the man to whom she had given her heart, while Xinthia kept her distance in order to avoid any of the teasing that she had started engaging in whenever her and Issei were within the same room.

Despite her utter masochistic submission in the bedroom whenever Issei came into the mix, Xinthia was still a dominating, imposing individual in her day to day life, and a complete task master in the training grounds. Ever since the discovery of her 'other' side, she seemed to get more and more harsh with Issei as far as training went. Most people watching believed it to be a way to discharge her embarassment at the situation, but she knew better.

She had noticed that whenever Xinthia went particularly hard at Issei during training, Issei responded in kind in the bedroom, something which was a win-win as Issei kept progressing at a faster and faster pace, and Laveria could notice that the relationship between Xinthia and Issei was more than likely to eventually progress into full fledged BDSM. _Kinky._

Not that she was one to talk about kinkyness, of course. After her initial romp with Issei, and with training his dragon-like reactions and instincts as one of the reasons, she had initiated the young man into the world of role-and-costume play. Cheerleader, cowgirl, schoolgirl, alien, nun, Issei had already fucked Laveria in each of these costumes, and roles. She noticed that he was particularly fond of the schoolgirl and nun attires, information which she gave Lilith to do with as she wished.

"Well, despite the fact that I'll be back in Japan, at least I'll have a magical circle that allows me to travel back here whenever I wish, right? Perhaps a weekend or another, or during holidays or breaks I could leave Kuoh and pop to Luxuria for a quick visit, no?"

Smirking lightly, possessing knowledge that she knew Issei did not, Laveria spoke airily.

"I wouldn't worry much about that, Issei. I'm sure that we'll be seeing eachother plenty in the recent future. Now shoo, go say goodbye to the others before they try to sneak into your suitcase."

Sweatdropping at that, Issei scratched the back of his head before heading towards Lilith, pulling her into a hug and lightly stroking her hair even as he cooed soothing words into her ear, causing her to eventually stop sobbing, instead only keeping her arms wrapped around his waist in a death grip.

Chuckling lightly, Issei spoke.

"Lilith, love, as much as I'd like to stay here for a while longer with all of you, you know that I can't, but I'll do my best to swing around as often as possible!"

Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, the purplette mumbled into Issei's chest.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Lilith reluctantly released Issei's waist, regaining her bearings and walking towards her mother, while Issei moved towards Xinthia, a somewhat awkward look on his face.

Before he could speak, Xinthia did so first.

"I'm not going to cry for you or beg you to stay if that's what you're hoping for, you idiot."

Chuckling, the brunette scratched the back of his head before speaking.

"I didn't expect you to. I know you better than that. I just want to say... That I'll miss your company. Even without all of the sexy stuff, just the regular stuff, when you ran me into the ground in training, tortured me under the guise of teaching, and constantly laughed at my minor misfortune... Wow, saying it like this makes it sound really bad. Well, whatever. I'll miss you anyway, Xinthia."

Blushing lightly, the woman looked away from Issei as she responded.

"I'll miss you too... _Master_."

A massive grin blossomed on Issei's face at that, causing Xinthia's blush to further intensify as she studiously avoided looking anywhere near either him or Laveria.

Finally, Issei made his way towards Jackie, who seemed to have felt down these last few weeks that he had in Luxuria. Issei spoke up.

"Jackie, and Hylda... First of all, I've gotta thank the two of you for helping me save Lilith."

Jackie interjected at that moment.

"But... If it wasn't for us, Travis wouldn't-" "Wrong. Travis already had plans for the Seed, and likely for Lilith. With or without you, he would have likely found a way to try to make them progress. Luckily for me it was you, someone who was actually a good person, rather than a complete bitch/bastard of a person. If it weren't for you, I'd likely have died either back in the castle hideout, in the snowy forest, or at the temple, against the Trogre. I owe you my life, the two of you."

Jackie blushed at that, while a blood-red glow overcame her right iris and the right side of her hair, her right breast decreasing slightly in size. Jackie/Hylda now spoke in a two-layered tone, as the two of them wished to say the same thing.

"I'm the one that should be **thanking you, Hyoudou Issei**. **You showed me** kindness and compassion when others **would have condemned or abandoned me** , and you gave me an honest chance at redemption, trusting **me not to stab you in the back at any moment...** "

The ' _though I ultimately did_ ' was not said aloud, yet Issei understood it all the same, frowning lightly at that. Taking the girls' hands into his own, Issei looked them in the eye as he spoke.

"I don't blame you for what happened. You were being possessed by a god of blood, using a cursed artifact of great power, to which your sacred gear made you even more susceptible. A couple of weeks before this, after the accepting of my powers, I couldn't even keep myself separate from the impulses of my - literal - reptile brain, so I really would have no shame in trying to hold you guilty for that, would I?"

Tears welled in Jackie/Hylda's eyes at those words, a massive weight on their chest becoming ever so slightly lighter. A small beeping sound from his watch had Issei cursing under his breath as he was forced to let go of Jackie/Hylda's hands, stepping back onto the magical circle that would deposit him back in his hotel room in Amsterdam in time for him to get his things together to board his flight back to Japan. A purple glow emerged as the circle activated, Issei's body gradually disappearing from the feet up as the magic got into effect. However, before he vanished, he had a few things to say.

Pointing at Jackie/Hylda, he spoke up.

"I decided! I'll fight to conquer your hearts next, Jackie and Hylda, and I'll show you the happiness that I feel with Lilith, and Laveria, and Xinthia! That's a promise!"

As his neck vanished, and before his jaw started to fade, Issei smirked smugly as he spoke to all of the present women.

"Love you all!"

He then disappeared before anything else could be done, leaving behind a sniffling Lilith, a heavily blushing Xinthia, a stunned frozen pair of Jackie and Hylda, and a chuckling Laveria. Before Lilith could break out into further crying, Laveria wrapped an arm around her shoulders and spoke softly.

"Don't worry about being away from Issei, baby. After all..."

She then procceeded to whisper something into the girl's ear, somethin which caused her previous sadness to shift completely, her sniffles turning into a massive smile as she wrapped her arms around the waist of her mother.

"Thank you, mother."

Laveria responded by stroking Lilith's hair, before speaking up towards the others present.

"It's time to go home now."

Jackie/hylda stiffened for a second, before speaking up, Hylda taking over completely.

"I guess it's time I leave, then... I'm sure I'll manage to find myself-"

She was cut off by a chop from Laveria which had her clutching her head in pain, tears in the corners of her eyes at the pain, before Laveria spoke up.

"Nonsense. I won't allow one of the saviours of my baby girl's life to live around like some sort of vagrant. Plus, I'm sure Issei wouldn't forgive us if we let you just disappear before he could conquer your heart."

The pain of her skull distracting her somewhat, Hylda was unable to hold back her latest words.

" _He already has our heart._ "

Noticing that she had said it out loud, Hylda covered her mouth with both hands, expecting angry looks from the others, only to see amused looks all around. The one to speak up after that was Lilith.

"Oh, we know that. It was easy to see - and to smell - every time you got close to him. _He_ ,however, does not. Until he finds out, you're staying with us. And after he finds out, you're staying too. Keeping his women as close as possible for maximum convenience, in the vein of a true harem."

Lilith's last few words were only said half-jokingly, as she knew about Issei's dream, and she could honestly say that she had no problem with it. Aside from the fact that she trusted him to not simply add whichever girl showed a whiff of interest in him to his harem, and instead add girls he knew to be trustworthy and capable of fitting into the arrangement, and also the fact that she believed herself unable to singlehandedly manage Issei's libido - honestly, the more he fucked the better and more dangerous he got at it - Lilith knew that Issei's heart had much love to give, much more than she could give back.

It would be unfair to keep others from enjoying this same love that she did, just as it would be unfair to limit the amount of love Issei got because even if she gave him all of her love, it would still not equal the love that he gave her. However, if various women gave him all of their love at the same time, then perhaps they could possibly equal the love he was willing to give?

A few minutes of reflecting on the Issei and the nature of his dream late, the women present made their way back to Luxuria, each of them bearing specific thoughts of their own.

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_

 **The lemon was requested, the lemon was delivered. This chapter was pretty much setup for the future, Issei getting what he deserves, and Issei finally leaving Luxuria, with the next chapter starting right with Issei, and going into Kuoh.**

 **I hope all of you who have read the chapter this far have enjoyed it! If you want, you can leave your feedback in the form of a review (or two, or twenty) or send me a Private Message. If you truly appreciate this story and you haven't already, be sure to Follow and Favorite for any further chapters!**

 **FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	14. The Delinquent Dragon Emperor!

**Guess who's back?**

 **ME!**

 **Once again, I see myself returned to the trences of FFnet, trying to make something good of myself for the general enjoyment of others.**

 **With that being said, this chapter won't have a review response section. As an attempt at a 'return to form', I'd rather try to force myself into putting out better content rather than rely on review responses as padding. When I'm back into shape, and I know the content I'm putting out is back up to par, the responses may return, as they won't be a crutch anymore, rather, a feature.**

 **Regardless, do feel free to express your thoughts for the chapter in the reviews, and, if you feel like it, drop me a PM with any thoughts, ideas or questions you have.**

 **Now, on with the story!**

 _ **-x-**_

 _"Your time has come, foul beast! You shall fall to the bite of my blade, for all of the evil deeds you have committed!" - Tharus, the virtuous knight of Callideran village shouted out from behind his shield, his enchanted sword Stahllied gleaming brightly, conveying that it too was preparing for battle._

 _"_ _ **Hoh? What is this that I see wandering into my home? Another one of those pathetic tin men, coming in with self-righteous words and sharpened swords, claiming to be the ones delivering the justice. Tell me, mister knight, what evil deeds of mine would you be referring to?**_ _"_

 _"Do not act daft, filthy monster! You have been slaughtering men of the crown and country for centuries! Taking away husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and so much more from families! You leave families headless and peniless, consigning them to lives of indentured servitude, serfdom, slavery! Others are forced into prostitution just to put bread on the table! And it is all because of you!"_

 _"_ _ **Foolish words! Never have I forced, nor lured, anyone into my territory! Every single one of those men, Fathers, brothers, and so on and so forth, they came here out of their own volition! They made the choice to come to my home bearing arms. Armed, as you, with little more than steel toothpicks, their self-righteousness, and piss and vinegar! They claim to have come to slay me, and to steal from my hoard, and yet when I fell them, I am the evil one?**_ _"_

 _The massive, serpentine-looking dragon, it's scales of a gleaming, reflective black hue, leaned it's long neck down, coming almost snout-to-shield with the knight that had invaded it's home, letting out a small huff that succeeded in rustling the knight's hair, before speaking again._

 _"_ _ **Tell me, tin man, what fantasy or delusion can you find to justify the invasion of my home, and the campaigns by your fallen compatriots, as 'righteous'.**_ _"_

 _"This land that you occupy is part of our kingdom! It is our land, which could be used to house the homeless, and to plant new crops to feed the hungry! Mines can be opened, to better arm our guards and armies that keep the order and fight againts our barbarian invaders, and protect our women and children!"_

 _"_ _ **So that is what you wish to believe... Tell me, tin man... What right do you have to claiming ownership over my home? What right do any of you hairless apes have to claim any sort of ownership over any sort of land? NONE! THAT'S WHAT RIGHT YOU HAVE! Every single bit of land that you have 'claimed', it has been gained not by right, but by MIGHT! You have stolen it from it's previous owners, be it other hairless apes such as yourselves, the other animals of the land, or even trees and plants!**_ _"_

 _The knight's eyes widened at those words, their effect manifesting like an almost physical manner as they caused the knight to take a step back. Ignoring this, the dragon kept speaking._

 _"_ _ **You call me evil for defending myself from attackers, when I can clearly smell the blood of others on your blade and armor; you call me evil for choosing this land as my home, when you apes have been doing the exact same thing for ages. You believe yourself to be righteous in fighting against me, when every swing of your sword is done in the defense of the exact same things you claim to be fighting against! So tell me, knight. If I am evil... Then what are you?**_ _"_

 _The dragon tilted it's head curiously, but, after a few seconds of silence, it pulled it's head back from the knight, knowing that no response was forthcoming._

 _"_ _ **I know you humans. You'll keep denying, and lying to and deluding yourselves up until the last moment, preferring to live in a comfortable illusion of moral superiority, rather than face the ugly truth of your flawed, imperfect nature. SO COME, LITTLE KNIGHT, AND JOIN THE RANKS OF THOSE TO HAVE BEEN FELLED BY ME!**_ _"_

 _The dragon's roar caused the knight's resolve to return to him, any doubt or trepidation being pushed away from his mind as his victory and survival became his top priorities._

 _ **-x-**_

"..."

Issei's focus was pulled away from the movie he had been watching when a hand daintily fell onto his shoulder. Taking off his noise-cancelling headphones - _purchased from the flight catalogue_ \- Issei turned towards the owner of the hand, a beautiful stewardess whose name plate read 'Mallory'.

Luscious, silky black hair, smooth, creamy skin, long legs covered from the thigh below in only a pair of pantyhose, due to he short uniform skirt, a modest B-cup chest, which was balanced out by a very shapely derrière more on the bigger side, ruby-painted lips in a very enticing smile and a beauty mark on the left side of her chin, just below her mouth, Mallory was a very alluring woman.

It's understandable, then, that most of the other male passengers that occupied the first class seats alongside Issei were absolutely envious of the young man when she seemingly decided to pay him extra attention. In order to explain Mallory's behavior, however, we must first understand how Issei managed to get into first class, when his tickets had been for economy class.

Truth is that a costumer that was supposed to travel first class had not shown up for the boarding process. Protocol would've been to either leave without them and make no changes, or promote someone from executive class to first class, and then a person from economy to executive. This time, however, protocol was not followed, and a person from economy was chosen specifically to occupy the vacant first class seat, likely in contravenence of a myriad of air regulations.

Seeing a flash of barbed tail and a purple-eyed wink from one of the ladies that had been working at the information counter of the airport told Issei that Laveria had something to do with his situation.

While that situation by itself was atypical enough to make Mallory take notice of Issei, what ultimately caused her to pay 'special' attention to Issei was his reaction to her. Unless they were not heterosexual, men tended to react to Mallory in one of two ways:

Either they were completely awed by her looks, which resulted in nervous and clumsy attempts at getting her attention, and some honestly awkward attempts at getting a phone number and a promise to meet again from her, or;

They were the 'smooth' types that tried to awe _her_ instead through charisma, wealth and compliments, something which fed her ego tremendously, and then gave her the satisfaction of watching said 'smooth guys' trying to hide their irritation and annoyance whenever she obliquely warded off their advances, or pursuits.

Seeing that the boy's stated age in the ticket was still that of a young, pubescent teen had Mallory expecting a 'type one', either awkwardly trying to get her attention, or too tongue-tied and enthralled to be able to do anything more than stare at her. When she finally saw this 'Hyoudou Issei' person, her assessment changed altogether.

A noticeably fit physique, a relaxed yet self-assured 'feel' around him, and the complete absence of self-consciousness as he strode between the rich and the famous were what Mallory observed in the young man.

What's more, when she first greeted him as he boarded the plane, rather than blatantly staring, or trying to discreetly eye her up and down, the boy unflinchingly met her gaze, took his time to openly look her up and down, his eyes shamelessly taking their time to trail down her legs. He finished everything by meeting her gaze again, raising his right eyebrow curiously, and then moving onto his seat.

No stuttering. No hesitation. No posturing, nor fake modesty. The boy acted much too calmly for someone in his situation, just disregarding Mallory as if she were another lady on the street when she knew how much he should have been affected by her!

Grown men twice his age, and with 10 times his net worth were all but begging her for just a few minutes of her time, and yet a boy like him was able to so easily dismiss her? That was unnaceptable for Mallory. And so she spent the entirety of the trip to Japan attempting to fluster the young man in whichever way she could.

She had managed to convince the other stewardesses to allow her to attend exclusively to the young man, during which time period she tried every single trick possible to crack his composure. She showed a high level of attentiveness and attention to him, always using her very best smiles, created occasions in which small touches occurred between the two, gave him some obviously appraising looks of her own, and yet they boy didn't crack.

Not a stutter, no traces of awkwardness or indecision, no attempts at chatting her up, clumsy or otherwise, nothing! So, she escalated.

Those small, fleeting touches turned longer, more lingering. Her inviting smiles and looks turned alluring, and predatory. She deliberately allowed her gaze to focus on the boys' lips and bit her own 'contemplatively', hell, she even found a few occasions to place herself in a position wherein her butt - _her best trait if she had to choose one_ \- was wiggling pretty much in front of his face, only the thin barrier of her uniform keeping it from being exposed, and yet, the boy did nothing!

And it wasn't even as if he wasn't interested in women. He saw her eyeing up herself and the various other stewardesses whenever one was to move past his seat, however he acted as if it wasn't such a big deal.

So Mallory, her ego bruised by the hours of flirting that the young man would obviously notice and purposefully ignore, decided to go for the nuclear option, as the plane was about half an hour from actually landing.

Asking her friends/coworkers to 'distract' the rest of the passengers in first class by giving them the attention from the 'sexy stewardesses' that most of them desired, and distracting the female ones with small talk which led to long talks about the most inane subjects, Mallory decided to act. Plus, even if the boy complained, what would the outcome be?

Pubescent, hormonal teen gets into some sort of 'improper' mishap with a friendly, professional stewardess with years of flight experience. She could simply claim that everything was a result of the young man reading too much into something that wasn't there, misinterpreting her attempts at making him comfortable during his flight, and in the end she'd come out smelling of roses.

And that's how Mallory's previously platonic, feather-light hand on Issei's shoulder started gliding down, tracing his bicep before reaching for his pectoral and squeezing it, her eyes widening in genuine surprise at the sheer level of tone that the boy's body had, as if she were rubbing smooth marble through a cover of cloth.

She leaned down over him, her interest in him now not wholly related to simply satisfying her ego, her hand taking his and placing it on her thigh, within her skirt, before her lips moved to just a hair's breadth away from his ears, her nostrils flaring as she picked up a not-scent hanging around him, something which spoke of virility, tightly leashed power and danger, and that caused a spike of both thrill and arousal within her. When she spoke, her voice was nothing other than a sexy purr.

" _Is there anything you'd wish from me before we land, mister Hyoudou?_ "

The brunette responded by turning his face to hers, their gazes locked on one another, and their lips and noses almost touching, before he spoke.

"I'd appreciate it if you let me travel in peace, thank you very much."

Having said that, Issei lightly pushed the confused, aroused and annoyed woman away, tightened his seatbelt, turned back to his movie and put his headphones on, allowing Mallory to wander back into the resting area for the stewardesses, an undecipherable jumble of feelings and sensations brewing within her.

 _ **-x-**_

 _He had done it. After hours of intense, exhausting and life-threatening combat, Tharus had finally managed to strike a fatal blow on the scaled monstrosity. With a torrent of fire barely held at bay by his melting shield, it's enchantments failing in the face of the magical flames as did the ones on his armor, Tharus acknowledged the fact that if he did not do something drastic very soon, he would fall._

 _In the end, Tharus' solution was to tighten the grip of is sword hand, shifting his footing so as to gain the best balance for what he intended to do, before harshly pushing his shield to the side, giving himself a tiny interval during which he did not have to deal with the pushing pressure of the torrent of flames._

 _In said small interval, Tharus' arm blurred as he threw his trusty Stahllied towards the dragon point-first. The rushing flames engulfed him less than an eye's blink later, only to stop abruptly as the dragon let out a titanic shriek, before a massive thump signaled the creature falling over._

 _Tharus, his gamble succesful due to a mixture of good luck and exceptional armor, rose back to his feet, his gauntlet-clad hand pushing a bang of his now free-flowing brown hair away from his eyes. He slowly ambled towards the twitching body of the downed beast, his eyes noticing the fact that his trusty sword was embedded in the underbelly of the dragon, in a small gap between two scales that he was absolutely sure he would be unable to strike with bow and arround even in his best day._

 _His victory was nothing more than luck._

 _Pushing idle thoughts aside, Tharus tightly grabbed the hilt of his sword, ruthlessly pulling it from whence it was wedged, a spurt of draconic blood as hot as boiling water gushing over him, drawing a pained scream from the knight._

 _His gauntleted hands flew straight to his face, which was the only unnarmored part of him, and when the burning sensation faded he uncovered his face, revealing a new burn mark on the right side of his face, on his cheek and around the orbit of his eye all the way to his right ear, though, luckily, both his ear and eye were left miraculously unarmed, his senses somehow avoiding impairment._

 _Wiping his blade clean on the tattered remains of his cloak, Tharus slid it home into it's waist-mounted scabbard, turning his back on the massive beast and walking back towards the castle's exit._

 _"Fucking animal, hurting me even in death out of sheer spite."_

 _"_ _ **Heh... Heh... Heh...**_ _"_

 _Tharus froze at the deep, rumbling chuckle that came as a response to his mumbled comment, his head slowly turning back towards it's source, only to see that the dragon was somehow still alive, though it was obviously not for long. It's whole body still shook weakly, it's chest heaving heavily, and it's voice came out in wet, breathless gasps._

 _"_ _ **You... Think... You've... Won...?**_ _"_

 _"Shut up! You're dying! I defeated you! You don't get to look at me with such arrogance and smugness as if you had me at your mercy! You have been slain!"_

 _"_ _ **Heh... It... May... Be... True... That you've... Slain me... I may lie here... Dying... Yet... I did... Not... Lose...**_ _"_

 _Tharus' grip on his sword tightened further, his stomach feeling as if an anvil had been forced within it and his body breaking out in gooseflesh. Something within him told him to just leave. Turn his back on the dying monster and, without giving it time to speak, leave. To hear the beasts' words... That way laid little more than heartbreak and madness._

 _Yet, Sir Tharus fought against every single one of those instincts, his decision fueled by the dangerous curiosity that led men to delve into subjects, arts and knowledge not meant for the minds of mortals, and his knightly honor, that bade him to listen to the final words of an enemy after a battle most well fought._

 _His teachings and convictions accepted nothing less from him than to listen, no matter how much the viciously gleeful look in his enemy's eyes tested that decision._

 _"_ _ **How... Could you... Claim... Victory...**_ _"_

 _A final burst of energy filled the dragon, a red glow filling it's eyes as it's voice turned strong once more._

 _"_ _ **When you have, in killing me, become the very same monster you've come here to slay!?**_ _"_

 _Tharus took a step back as if punched, his gaze still locked onto the dragon's even as the last of it's strength faded and it fell into the eternal slumber, it's mouth still locked in a mocking, sharp-toothed grin._

 _ **-x-**_

Despite the first class treatment, after everything he had gone through in the two months of vacation he took, disembarking from the plane was a very mundane matter, even while taking into account the strained look he got from 'Mallory', and the curious ones from the other stewardesses.

'Well, that was to be expected after what happened between me and that Mallory woman...'

' **Yeah, what was that about anyway? I don't understand why you would refuse her advances. Based on what I know about you humans, that female should be considered very much attractive. Other than that whole thing back with the succubus, I wouldn't expect you to just ignore women like this.** '

'Yeah, well that's because you couldn't feel her emotions. Up until she got real close and got a whiff of me she wasn't interested in me. She was expecting me to act either like a snivelling brat clamoring for a crumb of pussy, or a horny monkey trying all tricks possible to get into her pants. The fact that I did neither hurt her ego, that's the only reason why she was flirting with me. She wasn't interested in me, she was just interested on nurturing her ego, and like fuck I'll let myself just be used for something like that.'

' **...I saw you as the type of person to let yourself be used like that if it got you some head pats from a pretty woman, actually.** '

Sweatdropping internally, Issei responded to Ddraig even as he boarded the terminal shuttle.

'Yeah, well... That was before I understood the concept of pride in myself, and my achievements. Things are different now.'

Arrogance slipped into Issei's 'inner-voice' in small amounts, a consequence of his somewhat-draconic nature as he conversed with Ddraig.

'Plus, between my Tantric abilities and my last weeks of rest and relaxation in Luxuria, I feel absolutely zero need to peackock myself for some random lady, when I know that I already have my own women. I mean, you can say the right things, put out a bit of aura and get any girl interested in the moment, but how often can you get women that enjoy you for just being you, to the point of willingly giving themselves over to you?'

' **...Kid, other than the mushy emotion stuff, you're more and more like a dragon. I can almost feel an infimous iota of pride trying to climb over the mountain of evidences of your hopelessness that you've given me so far in order to try to assert itself.** '

The brunette sweatdropped internally once again at that.

'Thanks... I guess?'

By the time their conversation ended, Issei was already exiting the shuttle and walking back into the airport proper, his new, noise-cancelling headphones around his neck, and his phone in one hand as he deactivated airplane mode.

"Issei, over here!"

The brunette's gaze moved to the source of the voice, only for his mouth to split into a massive smile at the sight of both his parents waiting for him, his father raising a small A4 placard with 'Issei' written on it.

He made his way towards his parents, suitcase rolling behind him on it's wheels.

"Welcome back, Ise!" Mama Hyoudou said with a smile, while Papa Hyoudou nodded in agreement, his hand grabbing Issei's shoulder. The two were surprised, however, when their son pulled them into a tight hug, before he spoke in an earnest tone.

"It's good to be back. I missed the two of you, y'know..."

Beaming at her husband, Mama Hyoudou luxuriated in the affection that children were prone to make more and more rare as they grew up and hugging their parents started being 'uncool', while Papa Hyoudou's face held a complicated expression, somewhere between happiness and confusion.

Still, Mama Hyoudou was the one to speak up for the two of them.

"We missed you too, Ise. So, how did you like your vaca-"

She was interrupted by Papa Hyoudou when he, taking hold of both of Issei's shoulders, pushed him away from the two of them. He then procceeded to tightly grip Issei's shoulders, before his hands went down to his biceps and pinched them, then went to his chest and poked it lightly.

After a few seconds of this, he met Issei's gaze before speaking an a grave tone.

"Son... When did you become..."

The combination of the words and the tone had Issei inwardly sweating.

' _Holy shit! Did he figure it out? Did he find out about my powers? How? How could he find out? What did I do wron-_ '

" **SO MANLY**!"

Issei's panicking thoughts screeched to a halt at those words, a feeling somewhere between exasperation, relief and confusion filling him, while Mama Hyoudou spoke up.

"Whatever do you mean, dear?"

The head of the Hyoudou household turned towards his wife, his hands taking hers as he spoke.

"Did you not notice, dear? Our Issei... He is not the same as he went out!"

Issei flinched at that, flinching further when his father pointed at him and spoke up.

"That confident stance! That straight posture! Those new muscles! The fact that his gaze hasn't strayed to any of the women around us so far, and that no one came to us with any sexual harassment complaints related to him during his trip! Our Issei has grown up!"

Mama Hyoudou's eyes filled with tears at that pronouncement, before she spoke up.

"Y-you're saying that...?"

"Yes" Papa Hyoudou said with a sagely nod, his gaze meeting his wife's as he spoke "Our Issei is no longer a good-for-nothing pervert whose only redeeming feature are his grades!"

Sweatdropping at that, Issei's internal dialogue occurred as he streamed tears internally.

' _Oi, words hurt, damnit!_ '

Mama Hyoudou's response was instant. She pulled her reformed baby boy into a hug between herself and her husband, tears streaming down her face in a rather comical manner as she spoke.

"Finally, my baby boy has any hopes of becoming a proper member of society!"

His internal tears reaching even more comical proportions, Issei could only think:

' _Et tu, Mama?_ '

 _ **-x-**_

From his seat in the back of Hyoudou family car, Issei could do nothing more than try his best to suppress his irritation, though the twitch in his right eye and eyebrow showed this attempt to be at least partially ineffective.

Why was Issei annoyed?

It was due to the fact that his spanking brand new senses, both the enhanced physical ones, of draconic origin, and his empathic 'sixth sense' from eating the Seed told him that the family car _reeked_ of sex.

Every single part of the car, from the floormats and seats, to the plastic flap-like grills of the air conditioning, and the gearshift, all smelled of sex, both to his nose, and to his 'sensory'. And not just old sex, no. It was a mixture of years of sex that had already seeped into the car itself in an immutable, irrevocable manner, and fresher sex, that dated back 12 hours at most.

Issei knew that his parents were... Intimate. They had to be in order for him to have been born, after all, and something in the back of his head told him that he had more reasons to believe in this, yet that he should keep away from said reasons, as they were suppressed for a reason - _a very good one_ \- and that his very sanity would be in danger if he attempted to remember.

However, despite the fact that children from a certain age onwards know in the back of their heads, in those untouched and unexplored corners, that their parents still 'do stuff', no child wants that knowledge to be changed from passive to active.

So, one could understand the reason behind Issei's mood.

' _Okay, I guess I'll just take off the clothes I'm wearing as soon as I get home, burn them to ash, store the ash in a hermetically sealed vessel, take a shower with bleach, take the sealed vessel to the ocean and release the ashes to be scattered to the four winds, and never again touch the family car. That's a plan!_ '

Ddraig didn't even attempt to suppress his snickers at Issei's uncomfortable state, and Issei could feel even Aquila expressing amusement over their link, which only made him even more annoyed.

 _ **-x-**_

After five uncomfortable hours of sitting in traffic, trying to answer his parent's questions about his vacation without revealing the fact that he gained superpowers, almost died, gained a girlfriend, almost died, gained a... partner... almost died, had his girlfriend kidnapped, almost died, went to save her, almost died, actually died, got better and then participated in extremely satisfactory sexual acts for two weeks straight, Issei shout out of the Hyoudou family car like greased lightening as soon as it came to a stop in front of their home.

Reaching into his pockets for the house keys, Issei's urgency for purifying himself helped him find the right key easily enough and unlock the front door, allowing him to step into his residence, only for both of his eyebrows to start convulsing violently, a vein pulsing on his forehead.

The entirety of the home's entrance smelled of sex.

Kicking off his shoes and trying to hurry his way into a hot bath, Issei had to stop at the sheer feeling of residual lust his empathic sense picked up in the living room. He forced himself to move past it, going up the stairs - _which were also tainted, by their smell_ \- into the first floor, where both Issei and his parents' rooms were, alongside the bathroom at a small distance away from both rooms.

Making his way through his contaminated home, Issei wrenched open his bedroom door, already expecting the worse, only to finally be met with the one division in his home to be free of the unbearable smell, both physical and 'sensory', of his parents'... Activities.

No. The only smells abundant to Issei's room were Issei's own natural smell, from before he became... Whatever the hell he currently is... the smell of cleaning products, and a scent that was a consequence of Issei's various dates with Rosie Palms, which most people would be unable to make out under the cleaning products, yet he was able to pick up due to his Lust-based abilities.

Taking a deep whiff of freedom, Issei rapidly shed his clothes and stowed them in a corner of his room furthest away from his things. He then procceeded to sprint out of his room and into the bathroom completely in the nude, only for his face to start twitching heavily.

 _ **SEX.**_

He should have expected this. Really, he should have! He himself had more than a few bath sex adventures with Laveria, and Lilith, and Xinthia, and Beatrice, and... Well, suffice it to say that Issei baptized every single bathroom in the Luxurian royal castle with his energy and 'scent'. So he should have certainly expected the same to have occured in his home's bathroom.

Issei's response was the nuclear response.

He grabbed quite a few bottles of bleach from under the sink, splashing it all over the entirety of the bathroom's horizontal surfaces, and even quite a bit over the walls that had no power outlets or light switches on them.

His next step was to grab the showerhead and spray down said same surfaces, all the while cackling maniacally, his voice taking a disturbing tone as he started muttering to himself.

" _ **Die... Die... Die! Hahahahaha! DIE!**_ "

Within the Boosted Gear, Ddraig could only sweatdrop at his partner's erratic behavior.

' **Oi, Issei... You're starting to scare me...** '

" _ **CleanCleanClean...**_ "

 _ **-x-**_

The rest of the day was no more easy for Issei. Despite the fact that he had arrived back home in a saturday, which should have been a day for catching up with his parents and relaxation, he could no more relax than a germophobe in a hoarder's home.

Currently, the Hyoudou family was having their lunch - _cooked on a tainted counter, served and consummed at a tainted table_ \- while the Hyoudou parents asked Issei about his vacation, trying to get more than they did during the car ride - _which, to be fair, was pretty much nil_ \- which forced Issei to just forcefully grin at his parents, all the while he forced himself to eat his lunch.

Eventually, despite his strong will and mental strength, Issei had to tap out.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going out, okay?"

"Okay~" Mama Hyoudou spoke in a chirping, almost musical tone, while Papa Hyoudou laughed merrily at his wife's good mood.

Taking less than five minutes to wash, dry and store his eating utensils, Issei shot up the stairs into his room, grabbing a black garbage back and a pair of latex gloves on the way. Putting on the latex gloves, Issei grabbed his tainted clothes and shoved them into the garbage bag, tying it up tightly before opening his bedroom window, jumping out of it down into his home's backyard, before making his way towards the nearest dumpster.

' **Oi... Aren't you overreacting or anythin?** '

'Ddraig...'

' **Yes?** '

'Being in the presence of the remnants of people's... adventures... gives me... echoes. Echoes of what happened.'

' **...My god.** '

'Yup.'

' **So, being around the remnants of your parents'-** '

'Yup.'

' **You can sense-** '

'Yes.'

' **Even if they-** '

'Please stop talking.'

' **...** '

'...'

' **...** '

'...'

' **...How are you holding up?** '

'Horribly. Well and truly horribly.'

' **Well. My condolences, I guess.** '

 _ **-x-**_

After throwing out the tainted clothes, Issei wandered aimlessly around the town of Kuoh, doing his best to delay his return home in order not to be subjected to that hell of... _**Parental Maritals**_.

' _ **Aren't you forgetting something, Hyoudou Issei?**_ '

Issei stopped mid-step, blinking owlishly before responding with his own mind.

' _Aquila?_ '

' _ **Indeed.**_ '

' _...You've been kinda quiet ever since-_ '

' _ **I felt you dying, Issei. It was... Disconcerting. To feel your lifeforce slowly diminishing, until your side of our link simply became... Empty. Colorless. It was... Greatly unpleasant.**_ '

' _Oh. I dindn't know that it would feel like that._ '

' _ **I know.**_ '

' _...So, what is it that I was forgetting?_ '

' _ **You can simply reign in your empathic abilities around your parents, and spare yourself the trip into the madhouse.**_ '

' _...Aquila, if you were here with me right now, I would kiss you._ '

The Eagle of Victory, caught unaware by Issei's words, and feeling the honest sentiment behind them through the link, flushed intensely, taking a few seconds to recompose itself.

' _ **Erm... Ahem... W-well, You're the Man I chose to give the power of Rome to. I can't just let you keep suffering like this for no reason.**_ '

' _I don't care what you say, next time I see you I'm kissing the hell out of you. It's the least that I owe you._ '

Aquila's response in the 'face' of Issei's utmost serious words was to temporarily shut down her side of the link.

After that was accomplished, Issei closed his eyes and focused intensely.

' _Okay... I may be unable to affect my physical senses, but my 'extra-sensory' abilities..._ '

The young man focused on his various energies, trying to grasp the factor that related to his sensory abilities, before drawing them tightly within himself. This had various simultaneous effects.

One, it reduced the degree of his empathic abilities, so that rather than knowing exactly what an individual within his sensory range was feeling at any moment, Issei could get only a general 'feeling' from the individual, something that allowed him only to feel simple things such as 'horny', 'hungry' or 'angry'. More complex emotions, such as 'bruised ego', 'nostalgic', 'bittersweet happiness' and such would only register as 'conflicting' or 'complicated';

Two, his ability to feel the results of people's lust diminished greatly. Up until very shortly, Issei could tell exactly when was the last time that each person in the street had some sort of sexual contact, and the energy of their partner/partners. Some people had very disturbing results in the second one, so not having to constantly sense these things would be a godsend;

Third, and an unforseen consequence, was the fact that the energy that he was passively putting out... Vanished almost completely. Before he tried applying Aquila's tip, anyone with any sensory abilities, or relation to the supernatural world would have been able to easily single him out as an empowered individual, a member of the supernatural. Now, Issei's 'magical presence' was almost nil, on the level of a regular human almost. Perhaps a sacred gear user, at best, yet the various different types of energies within him made that murky, and more difficult to make out.

However, despite not wanting to go insane from parental TMI, Issei still wanted to make sure that his powers were on point, so he tried to focus his senses specifically on a single person, without opening himself up universally to all those other emotions. He felt a single, hair-thin strand of power, almost non-existing, connecting him to his target, a random brunette on the other side of the street, before he felt information just hit him like natural.

' _Had sex just fifteen minutes ago, and has the smell of two different men on her. Is worried that her boyfriend may be suspicious of her cheating... Wow, what a shitty person._ '

Focusing lightly, Issei 'disconnected' this thread from the brunette, pulling it back to himself. Satisfied with his discovery, and noticing the setting sun behind him, Issei decided to head back home.

 _ **-x-**_

 _"*Giggle* No honey, Issei's home!"_

 _"Well that never stopped us before, and he never noticed it! What would be different now?"_

 _"But... Oh very well, dear."_

 _"Mhm... Don't act like you're not in the mood either, love. Now tell me, who's your mistress?"_

 _"You're my mistress!"_

 _"What are you?"_

 _"I'm mistress' horsey!"_

 _"Neigh for me, horsey!"_

Issei could do nothing more than turn around in his bed, his eyes wide open and red-rimmed, and his pillow covering his head in a failed attempt at blocking out external sounds.

Turns out that while he may not be able to 'sense' his parents with his extrasensory abilities, his physical senses were still honed enough that he could hear what was happening a few doors over with a terrifying level of accuity.

A suction noise had Issei cringing, before rivers of tears streamed comically from his eyes.

' _Oh god, why must you abandon me to such tortuous hell?_ '

 _ **-x-**_

4AM. Issei felt himself lethargically rolling off the bed, his body smacking into the wood floor of his bedroom. His parents had only stopped their... _Activities..._ somewhere around 2AM, meaning that between then and his body's Xinthia-imposed awakening time, he got 2 hours max, maybe even less.

With his conscious mind mostly fried, Issei's subconscious mind decided on a partnership with his body and took over, forcing him into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, before he proceeded to stumble and fall - _silently, somehow -_ down the stairs.

Still having the tiny amount of mindfulness to lock the door behind him after leaving, Issei's body decided to go on a jog around Kuoh, his subconscious plotting a map that would give him about the same amount of distance as his jogs around the training field back at Luxuria.

Issei's body went back home at 7 AM, enough of his brain active by now to try to head back to bed. However, before that he'd have to take a shower, to clean off all the built up sweat.

Unfortunately, he was not awake enough to adjust the water temperature, resulting in a cold water shower that forced Issei into full wakefulness, and a high-pitched shriek that resulted in Issei's parents being woken up.

A knock on the door attracted Issei's attention, forcing a croak of 'Yes?' from him, only for his mother's voice to sound out.

"It's good that you're up, Ise. The start of your new school year is just tomorrow, and we have a few things to do. I already got some things out of the way, so you and Papa just have to go pick up your uniform at the tailor, but that's only in the afternoon. Before that you'll have to shop for your school supplies. Please be dressed and fed by 8."

This was followed by Mama Hyoudou's fading steps. Issei could only groan, his dreams of a soft bed pushed aside for the need to get his scholarly needs in line.

 _ **-x-**_

"I'm really sorry we missed lunch, Issei, but can you believe those prices?"

Papa Hyoudou, sitting behind the wheel of the Hyoudou family car, ranted at Issei about the unfairness of the prices of school supplies.

"I mean, with J-mart trying to rip people off as far as notebooks go, and T-mart charging 25% tax for a box of pens, and Q-mart selling all of your books at that ridiculous bundled price, going around for the best deals was the only real way to get our money's worth, you know? And now we'll have to go to the tailor, and it'll be another hole burned into my wallet. Why, oh why, can't the prices in our country be lower?"

 _ **-x-**_

"WHAT!?"

"You heard me very well the first time, Mr. Hyoudou. You are late. Very, very late. It's so late that we should have already closed the store, yet the fact that your wife is a long time costumer stayed our hard, especially with how she kept speaking so pridefully about her number 1 son who was going to give the freshman speech for Kuoh academy. I just couldn't let him miss his opportunity, or go there underdressed."

"Well... We're somewhat late, but still... 70% extra?"

"Late fees tend to be higher than this, in the excess of 120%, due to the fact that we have to take care of storage and preservation of the outfit, the first one taking space which could be occupied by some other piece being worked on, and the second one being costly in man-power and chemical equipment. All-in-all, we're giving you very good rates, Mr. Hyoudou, but only because your wife was a good college friend."

His eyes widening at the 120% tagline, Papa Hyoudou bowed repeatedly at the owner of 'Thread and Needle' - _the only tailor his wife frequented_ \- Yuki Shokkiko, who was Mama Hyoudou's college roommate and best friend.

"Thank you very much for your help and patience, we will be taking our package now."

As soon as the sealed plastic package was handed to Papa Hyoudou, he grabbed the sleep-standing Issei by the elbow and dragged him out of the building. Shokkiko called out after him.

"Hey, aren't you going to let the boy try on his clothes to see if they fit?"

Rather than running the possibility of incurring any extra costs, Papa Hyoudou called out over his shoulder.

"No need, my family trusts your work very much!"

Very soon they were within the car on their way back home.

Issei managed to take a very short 30 minute nap, but it all ended when his father had to break abruptly as some asshole cut them off at a crossing just before their home. Being so close to his house, and to promises of a soft bed, the Hyoudou boy decided that a short, 5-minutes-or-less nap wasn't worth it, so he trudged out of the car, dragging himself into his home like the walking dead.

After having dinner forced down his throat by his mother, Issei finally made his way back to his room, flopping onto his soft, soft bed, his eyes drifting closed...

 _"OH GOD, DON'T STOP!_ "

Before his mother's voice rang out from the Hyoudou Parents' bedroom, followed by disturbing sounds of suction and moistness.

Issei curled up and cried.

 _ **-x-**_

4AM. Issei's body, working in tandem with his subconscious mind, had the young man out of the house and running in less than 15 minutes. He arrived back home at 7AM on the dot, only to find his mother panicking in the living room, while his father tried to calm her down. As soon as he caught sight of Issei, Papa Hyoudou spoke.

"See, honey? Our son was just out for a morning run! Nothing less, nothing more!"

Issei's response was to nod off in place, something which was taken as an actual nod of confirmation. Accepting the explanation, Mama Hyoudou pushed the sealed plastic package that had Issei's school uniform, causing him to actually wake up, before pushing him up the stairs.

"Now go take a shower and get dressed, we don't want you to be late on your first day!"

The brunette - _with a single purple bang_ \- nodded in a zombie-like fashion, before trudging up the stairs, tossing his uniform onto his bed before going into the bathroom. Knowing that certain sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good, Issei deliberately turned the knob for the cold water, causing the entirety of his nerves to flare simultaneously in an attempt at telling Issei that what he did was very, very stupid, and that he shouldn't ever do it again.

Ignoring that, Issei finished his cold shower in 15 minutes, before going back into his room, opening the package before putting on the clothes that were within it.

10 minutes getting dressed, and Issei was down in the kitchen, filling a paper cup with freshly-brewed, piping-hot black coffee, before moving for the table. Before he could sit down, however, his mother had already shoved his lunchbox into his arms, somehow managing not to dislodge his coffee, before pushing both him and Papa Hyoudou out the door.

"Go, go, go, neither of you can be late!"

And like that, the two Hyoudou men started their week.

 _ **-x-**_

 _ **-Kuoh Academy New Building, Auditorium-**_

Souna Shitori - _an alias taken by the heiress of the Sitri clan of the 72 Devil Pillars, Sona_ \- could do nothing more than look down at her watch, before looking at the freshmen arrayed around the various seats of the auditorium.

She then proceeded to look back up at the Podium with a look of irritation, crossing her arms with her right hand clenching around her left sleeve.

"Calm down, Sona" - Rias Gremory, Heiress of the Gremory Clan of the 72 Devil Pillars spoke- "I'm sure that this Hyoudou Issei person will be here soon."

Biting her lip, the usually cool and collected Sona couldn't completely keep the irritation out of her tone as she spoke.

"I take my responsibilities as the president of the student council very seriously. I made sure to dictate the letter that he recieved, and it explicitly told him the date and time at which he was expected to give the freshman speech! 2 months of preparation, and he's late!"

Rias opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, the gym's double doors were slammed wide open, causing everybody in the room to turn towards them, only for eyes to widen tremendously, and jaws to almost hit the ground at the sight of said figure.

This figure slowly made it's way down the middle corridor between the two rows of seats that the freshmen sat at amidst a sea of whispers and murmurs, slowly walking up the stairs to the center stage of the auditorium, walking right up to the podium and, after clearing his throat, spoke up.

"My name is Hyoudou Issei, and I'm this year's freshman speaker, due to getting the highest grades in the entrance exam."

The entirety of the student body only had one response to Issei's words.

"... **EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**!"

In order to understand the reason behind this reaction, we need to take a few steps back, to a little bit earlier.

 _ **-x-**_

 _ **-Hyoudou Residence, Issei's room-**_

 _Issei had just finished taking a cold shower and towelling himself dry, before he easily broke the seal of the plastic package containing his uniform._

 _The uniform that his mother comissioned consisted of a pair of slacks, a white, button down shirt with a black tie, and a black blazer, with black Oxford-style dress shoes._

 _While the slacks fit him mostly properly, being just a tad bit too tight, the shirt proved to be... a problem. When Issei's mother comissioned his tailor friend to make his uniform, she likely had his old build in mind._

 _This caused problems._

 _The shirt fit snugly on Issei. While the stomach didn't pose much problem, his chest and shoulders were bigger than the shirt would usually withstand. While most often than not this would just mean a torn shirt, Shokkiko did damn good work, which meant that rather than the shirt ripping apart at the seams, Issei was just unable to close the two topmost buttons, leaving a small portion of his extremely tone chest visible and making it impossible to properly wear his tie, and the size of his shoulders meant that the sleeves of the shirt only reached up to slighly more than half his forearms._

 _Rather than show up looking completely ridiculous, Issei solved his problems by rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to slightly below his elbows, revealing is toned forearms and the discolored scars on his left forearm, around the wrist area._

 _He loosely hung the tie around the collar of his shirt, before putting on his blazer, disguising these two 'cheats'._

 _ **-x-**_

 _ **-Hyoudou Family Car, just outside the doors to Kuoh Academy-**_

 _Coffe in one hand and Bento (lunchbox) in other, Issei did his best to open his door and climb out, however, Papa Hyoudou, impatient and unwilling to get to work late, sped off right as Issei was closing the car door, causing him to lose his balance and spill his hot coffee all over his blazer._

 _Acting quickly in order not to stain his white shirt, Issei shed his blazer, hanging it off his arm. Looking at his phone, Issei saw that he was right on the edge of lateness for his speech. Putting his bento away within his bag, Issei hurried his way towards the Auditorium, as his letter had mentioned._

 _He tried pushing the double doors once, twice, three times, and all those times they didn't even budge. Annoyed, hungry, thirsty and lacking sleep, Issei reacted by pushing the doors in_ _ **hard**_ _, causing them to bang into the walls of the auditorium with a loud *_ _ **BANG**_ _*._

 _ **-x-**_

Which leads to the present. Almost every person in attendance could only think the same thing when they saw Issei's looks, from the spiky brown hair with a single purple bang, to the rolled up sleeves of his shirt, to the scars on his arm, and the lidded, red-eyed look he levelled upon the audience.

' _ **HE'S A MASSIVE DELINQUENT!**_ '

Not knowing the general feeling of the room due to not having his sensory abilities active, and not caring to know due to his tiredness, Issei kept speaking in his lethargic tone.

"As said before, I'm Hyoudou Issei. I'm turning 15 in a while I am, as you know, a first year student at Kuoh, just like the rest of you, and my ultimate goal in life is to become the Harem King. I live breasts. Big, small, medium, they're all beautiful to me as long as they're attached to a beautiful woman. I believe that breasts are the ultimate manifestation of god's love for man, as while there are hundres of thousands of mammalian species on this planet, only humans gained to blessing that are breasts.

While being particularly fond of breasts, I do not dislike butts, legs, thighs or waists. In fact, I appreciate all of those, and believe that having a proper balance between all of these elements is best.

I don't want problems with anyone. I'm much too tired, barely got a few hours of sleep, so anyone that annoys me I'll kick their ass.

That's... Pretty much it. Oh, and, work hard and prosper, or something, I don't know. I'm not a professional speaker, I'm just some 1st year freshman. Find your own motivation. If an idiot like me can get good grades, then the lot of you have no excuse not to."

Finishing off in that note, Issei walked out of the stage through the back curtains, leaving behind a mostly empty auditorium, the only sounds within it being enthusiastic clapping from two distinct individuals, one of them bald, the other one wearing glasses.

This was Kuoh Academy's first impression of one Hyoudou Issei.

 _ **-CHAPTER, END-**_

 _ **Well, that's a donearoonio for now. Finally got around to updating, and you finally got to see Issei back in Kuoh. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll do my best to bring you even more. Remember to leave a review if you want to, to follow and favorite if you enjoyed and intend to keep reading, and to send me PM's if you feel like it!**_

 _ **Arrivederci!**_


	15. Greek Tragedies, Japanese Comedies

**I'm still alive, folks! And since my state of mortality has not changed, and since I have time on my hands at the moment, I have decided to update once more!**

 **So, uh, here goes!**

 _ **-x-**_

It was a beautiful day. The wide blue skies were populated by a few puffy, white clouds, and a brightly shining sun, yet, despite this, it was not exceedingly hot, but more a temperate climate. Beautiful and healthily green plants of all sorts, with more than a few flowers blooming across them were tastefully spread throughout the area in a tasteful manner, one which elicited thoughts of 'controled wildness', as if the plants were growing free and unrestrained by foreign hands, and yet they decided to match and complement the aesthetics of the place, rather than trying to grow through or _despite_ them.

Said aesthetics were those of massive buildings made of white marble meshed with glittering gold, impressive marvels of architecture that were as beautiful as they were imposing, with various massive pillars bearing engravings of various different mythological beings and stories being the primary supports of the massive roofs.

Leading to and from these massive buildings were marble pathways, big enough for a few people to walk on shoulder to shoulder, and that were bordered by more gardens and greenery, with the occasional smaller building - also made of marble - making an appearance.

Anyone that saw all of this would automatically be reminded of the hystorical buildings of greece, though more so the idealized version of said buildings in their prime, rather than the form which they take today. That is because this _was_ the ancient greek aesthetic, and it was the one found in a very particular place:

 _ **Olympus**_.

The home of the gods of greek myths, _**Olympus**_ was located atop Mount Olympus, yet separated from the perception of mortals by a feat of divine magic, a dimensional barrier that created a 'second space' located somewhere around the physical space occupied by the mountains themselves, anchored in place through mysterious processes and magics.

Walking through this place, _**Olympus**_ , would be a massive privilege for most, rendering mortals of most persuasions and creeds into a state of awe due to the sheer beauty of the old-world aesthetics of the area, and the sheer joy and peace that reigned within, noticeable by the various minor deities, demigods and other benevolent beings of greek myth that occupied space within it, reunited around marble statues, smaller buildings, stone benches or even within an amphitheater, all of them joyfully laughing or giggling as they enjoyed both their activities, and company.

However, the individual that sauntered through _**Olympus**_ , gathering speculative yet respectful looks from those that they moved past, eyed the entire area with visible boredom painted on their face.

' _Ugh. Every single day, it's the same thing! Marble, gold, statues, pillars. No variation, no additions, no new styles or color! How is a Love Goddess not to get bored after centuries of experiencing this exact same thing?_ '

Correct. With her seemingly gold-spun hair, pink-colored eyes, bombastic body which mixed a height of 5'11", a slender, taut stomach, C-cups on the higher side of the measuring tape, being closer to D's than to B's, a trim, slender waist which was followed after by a wide pair of soft-looking hips, seemingly perfect, with no amount of meat over or under the ideal for their size, very toned and medium-sized buttocks and the sheer aura of sensuality emitting from them, the individual which we are watching at the moment could be none other than _**Aphrodite**_ , the greek goddess of **Love**.

Brushing aside her annoyance at the unchanged décor and aesthetics of the home of the gods, Aphrodite made her way towards the biggest building of _**Olympus**_ , an enormous temple that looked like a totally restored version of the Parthenon if it were sized up to 11, which acted as the meeting room between the most powerful and influential beings of greek mythos:

The Olympians.

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dyonisius were the 12 primarily-considered Olympians, though that number was only correct due to the fact that neither Hestia nor Hares cared to claim a seat at the table so to speak, with Hades being seemingly too occupied with being one of the top 10 strongest beings to even deign to visit his family, and Hestia preferring to stay away from Olympian matters and to do whatever it is that Hestia did with her free time.

Brushing aside those thoughts, Aphrodite walked into the the temple, greeting a few of the other minor deities and servants arrayed around the area with a friendly wave and smile, before walking towards an empty section of the temple, her previously worn clothes, a black, low-cut spaghetti-strap top which left her belly and waist bare, a pair of jean short shorts and white low-heeled sandals being covered by a bright, golden light, which faded to reveal a white toga reaching to slightly above her knees, with a pink sash that went over her left shoulder to wrap around her right hip, while her feet were now adorned by calf-length greek sandals, it's various laces already properly tied in a criss-crossing fashion that covered the front part of her legs up to the knee.

She grumbled in annoyance at the change, one that was enforced by an enchantment added to the entrance of the Olympian throne room during the olden days, with the total power of the Twelve Olympians plus Hestia and Hades, done so with the intent of ensuring that the image of the Olympians was always impeccable during their meetings, likely with the intent of ensuring that Zeus' philandering ways were not publicly displayed as a mark of shame on his siter-wife Hera - _and wasn't that a sentence that was wrong to say_ \- who was the goddes of, among other things, _**Matrimony**_.

Looking around the throne room allowed Aphrodite to notice the fact that she was not late, as most of the other Olympians seemed to just recently have arrived as well, each of them taking one of their twelve thrones which were arranged in a circular fashion in order to allow them all to keep the others in view.

After taking her seat, Aphrodite allowed her eyes to rove over the other Olympians a bit more intensely, taking in any disturbances of their appearance that could have possibly slipped past the enchantment - _things which were not directly related to the state of their clothing_ \- and made a few observations.

 **Apollo** , the god of the sun, healing, truth, sudden death, harmony and a bunch of other stuff could be seen plucking a few strings on a golden harp, the sun reflecting off of his equally golden hair and his colgate-certified straight smile. His physique, as one could expect from what was considered the god of both beauty, perfection and healing, was extremely well taken care of, his toned yet not overly sized muscles showing through his bare-shouldered thigh-length toga and sporting a height of 6'4" , while his face was the standard hollywood fare of seemingly touched up lips and nose, proeminent, high cheeks, and a total absence of creases, wrinkles or anything other of the sort. Despite all of this, one could only feel an aura of casual, relaxed friendliness, and even a little bit of dullness, from him, something which made him seem like a stereotypical california surfer dude. His noticeably tanned skin - _perfectly tanned, no lines at all_ \- and sky blue eyes only added to the aura. He, having noticed Aphrodite looking, waved friendly, causing her to smile and nod in response.

 **Artemis** , the twin of Apollo and goddess of wildlife, hunting, the moon, childbirth and virginity, however, seemed as if she were made with the intent of completely contrasting her brother. Red hair whereas Apollo's was blond, silver eyes whereas her brother's were blue, a stern frown and creased brow whereas Apollo was relaxed and friendly, a body which was short and petite whereas Apollo was tall and statuesque, and skin that was pale as a moonbeam whereas her brother's was tanned, none of these traits took away from the fact that Artemis was as inhumanly beautiful as her brother, and that the two of them cared for each other deeply, despite Apollo's flirtatious ways with any non-related woman, and Artemis' general dislike of men, and outright disdain of cheathers, polygamists and perverts.

 **Hermes** , god of gymnastics, tricksters, thieves, diplomats - _heh, wasn't that a most redundant classification?_ \- astronomy, eloquence and a few other things, holding the title of the fastest one of the olympians and having been given the position of messenger of the gods for said distinction, was also blonde. However, unlike Aphrodite and Apollo whose hair colors were golden blonde, Hermes' was a dirty blonde, with streaks of brown added to the mix. His face was that of a man on his late 30's-early 40's, with a few lines and creases added to the mix, and laugh lines bordering his eyes. Those, mixed with his naturally upturned lips in the similance of a smirk, the mischievous glint in his eyes and the restless aura of restrained energy around him gave him the general feel of a trickster. He was slimmer than Apollo as far as his upper body went, however his legs were built strong and toned, akin to a runner, or a cyclist. His height was average, somewhere around 5'9".

 **Hephaestus** , god of technology, blacksmith, metal, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes, was a tall, and heavily muscled bear of a man, measuring an even 6', which made him shorter than Apollo, yet with a massively muscled build, each of his biceps alone as wide as a toddler, and the rest of his body following suit, making him a very menacing sight. Adding to that his thick, shaggy, greying beard, originally colored black, his ugly face with a misshapen nose, an upper lip that was missing a fingernail-sized chunk, a milky-blue, downturned left eye, and a bald, misshapen head with an indent somewhere along the middle, Hephaestus was surely someone that you wouldn't like to meet in a dark street, while walking alone at night. Hell, not even in a well-lit street with plentiful company! Despite all of this, the man's sole good eye held a glint of intelligence that one would be very foolish to overlook, his extremely thick fingers moving with a dexterity that should be impossible for him as he played with various metal parts, reassembling and disassembling them as various different objects.

 **Dyonisius** , the god of parties, wine, insanity, theater, life cycles and inebriation, was an average-heighted man, 5'8", though he was a very much in different shape than the other male olympians. While most other male olympians were in extremely fit shapes, Dyonisius was not, being rather fat, especially around the torso, with pudgy cheeks, a rounded chin that somehow was in singular, while taking his weight into account, and thick arms and legs. He, however, somehow managed to properly rock this look - _totally has to be a god thing_ \- with the combination of his plump cheeks, cheery-looking smile, creased and friendly-looking eyes and silken hair of a sandy blonde tone giving him a particularly cherubic look. Adding to that his inviting aura of a fun party animal, and it was easy to see how he still managed to pull off attractiveness as well as he did. However, despite all of this, a small glint of madness and spitefulness shone deep within his eyes, somewhat well hidden behind the party animal, which told anyone that caught sight of it to tread lightly around this god.

 **Demeter** , goddess of the harvest, agriculture, tilled earth and seasons, was a 5'6", pleasantly plump woman. With her brown hair slightly lightening, her plump cheeks, laugh lines around her eyes and a decidedly more pear-shaped body, with a smaller upper body and a prodigious pair of hips and ass, Demeter could be considered to possess a matronly-type of beauty, for those related she would be the 'beautiful mother', and to those attracted to her, she would be the 'plump MILF'.

 **Athena** , goddess of civilization, wisdom, strategy, justice and skills, was a 5'9" tall woman, with a slender build, with b-cup breasts, a trim waist, slimp hips and a pert, yet not particularly large butt. Despite all of this, between her loose, shoulder-length dark brown hair that was bordering on black, her small nose, small mouth, soft chin and cheeks and her wire-frame glasses, Athena had the cute librarian look down almost to a T. The only things that could possibly dispell this perception would be the look of extreme hunger for knowledge within her eyes, which was, thankfully, tempered by wisdom, _almost_ always averting any bad situations that said hunger could cause, and a look of nonchalant disdain that a person would feel when looking at a monkey, as if watching the behavior of an intelectual inferior with nothing more than amusement, something which, if noticed, could break the entire image.

 **Ares** , the god of war, savagery, bloodthirst and slaughter was almost as tall as tall as his brother Apollo at 6'2", and almost as muscular as his brother Hephaestus, looking like a particularly buff gym rat that has not yet reacher bodybuilder levels. His hair was as red as blood - _or perhaps as if it were covered in blood_ \- and short, barely leaving his scalp in a frazzled mess of spikes, which paired with his thick, yet not unnatractive lips, his wide nose, a pair of flames occupying his ocular orbits rather than eyes, which still managed to convey a sense of menace, his threatening, bloodthirsty smirk and an everpresent smell of blood hanging around him would make anyone call him nothing short of a barbarian.

 **Poseidon** , god of the seas, earthquakes, storms and horses, was a 6' tall man, bearing the build of a dedicated fisherman, with broad, muscular shoulders and toned arms and back from swimming, paddling and pulling nets filled with dozens to hundreds of fish, legs that were also toned from swimming, though less so than his upper body, black, short hair which was soft and curly at the tips, likely due to moisture, a close-cropped, salt-and-pepper beard adorning his face, slightly misshapen nose which added to the ruggedly handsome look, and sea-green eyes which were superficially happy and friendly, yet held hidden depths, surrounded by a few creases from age, and a deep fisherman's tan which distinguished itself from Apollo's by being darker to the sun god's golden. He always smelled like a clean, sea breeze.

 **Hera** , the goddess of matrimony, maternity and wives, was a tall woman, 6' tall, of a build somewhat akin to Athena's in that her body was trim and slim, yet both her assets and derriére were noticeably bigger than Athena's. She had a straight nose, dark brown eyes, a darker, mediterranean-toned skin, and her black, back-length hair was coiffed into a severe bun. Between these things, her more conservative ankle-length Toga whereas the other gods' reached mostly either to the thighs or the knees, the _Polos_ \- _a high cylindrical crown_ \- adorning her head, her steely gaze and her austere air, one could very much describe Hera as very imposing- and forbidding.

And, last but not least, there was **Zeus** , the big man on campus, King of the gods, god of thunder, the skies, eagles, and oaks, and the head honcho of this whole shindig. Standing at a comfortable 6'3", Zeus was visibly older than most of the other olympians, despite being younger than Hera and Hestia, the two older siblings, which was a consequence of his battle with **Kronos** , his father and titan of time, before he had managed to rescue his siblings from his gut. This showed itself in the fact that while most of the other gods had either their naturally colored hair, or were simply greying, Zeus' neck-length, wavy hair was already fully grey, as was his thick beard. Despite this, he still sported a healthy physique, that of an athlete that, while approaching the end part of their carreer, was still in great shape, and could still keep up with the younger competitors. His build was somewhat similar to Poseidon's as far as the legs, shoulders and back went, though rather than having both arms be symmetric in size and strength, it was obvious that his right one was more worked on, as was the his right pectoral, and the right side of his back, giving him the build of a javelin thrower. His face was noticeably more marked by creases and folds than the other gods, yet it did not yet seem like the face of an old man, more akin to someone in their late 40's-early 50's, with a pair of clear, blue eyes, which had a habit to light up as if lightning struck behind them whenever Zeus got angry.

By the time Aphrodite had finished her observation of the olympians, Ares spoke up brashly.

"I know that you said this was an emergency, old man, but I need you to make it snappy. I was having fun entertaining a woman whose husband died in war. A war that I caused, but still."

Ares licked his lips, eliciting a look of distaste from both Athena and Hera, a look of disgust from Aphrodite and Demeter, and one of outright loathing from Artemis, however, before he could speak further, he was interrupted by Zeus' voice, the man's strong tone backed by a release of his aura instantly causing pause to his son, and causing all the other olympians to lightly tense.

"You are still much too green to interrupt me. Do so again, and you shall not enjoy the consequences. Do you understand, boy?"

Gulping, Ares swallowed his pride and let out a grumbled "Yes, father", causing Zeus to relax back into his throne, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Mumbling an ' _Disrespectful youngsters_ ' under his breath, Zeus gathered himself again before speaking in a serious tone.

"As you all are aware, it has been a long time since a full meeting between the olympians has been called, due to the lack of need in recent centuries, so, for me to have called for one, it was with great reason. Apparently."

The other olympians, which had been following Zeus' words with unspoken agreement, could only give out their small, individual expressions of curiosity, mixed with a little confusion. Ignoring this, Zeus kept speaking.

"I say apparently, because this meeting was not called by me. It was called, instead, by the ladies Fate, with a seemingly grave message."

As soon as he said those words, everybody's attention and focus sharpened completely. It was even easy to notice a tension filling their bodies as a cloud of smoke appeared along the floor of the room, pouring in out of nowhere noticeable and skirting around the thrones and legs of the seated olympians. Said cloud converged completely in the middle of the circle, creating a crude pictogram of a snarling dragon. In usual Moirai fashion, the three fates' non-words, calmly spoken yet seemingly shouted all the same, filled the minds of all present.

" **THE RED DRAGON OF THE EAST RISES**

 **IT'S POWER GROWS QUICKLY, CASTING GREAT SHADOW UPON THE WORLD**

 **MUCH CHAOS AND PAIN IT WILL BRING**

 **FAMILIES SHALL SHATTER AND TRUST SHALL BE BROKEN**

 **FROM THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS, TO THE GATES OF OLYMPUS**

 **THIS WORLD SHALL BE SHAKEN**

 **FLANKED BY A WOMAN OF RUINOUS POWER**

 **AND THE DARLING OF THE BITING FROST**

 **BOTH SHALL BE CONSUMED BY THE BEAST**

 **UNDONE, NOW AND FOREVERMORE**

 **THE BEAST'S FRENZY SEES NO END**

 **COUNTLESS DEVOURED BY IT'S MAW**

 **MEN TAKEN BY CLAW AND FLAME**

 **MAIDENS TAKEN BY LUST AND DARK CHARISMA**

 **ALL SHOULD BEWARE, AND FOR THE FUTURE PREPARE**

 **FOR THE RED DRAGON OF THE EAST... RISES...** "

As soon as the final words were said, the mystical smoke seemed to dart into the ground and vanish altogether, leaving behind it only a bewildered state of grave silence. Said silence was cut off by worried mutters and whispers, before a worried ' _What should we do_ ' was uttered just loud enough to be heard, yet not loud enough for the identity of the one to ask the question to be noticed.

Everyone went silent again at the posed question, before Athena's voice cut through the silence.

"I believe that our path of action is quite obvious. We find whomever this Red Dragon of the East is, and we ensure that they do not pose a threat to us."

Cracking his knuckles, Ares spoke in a menacing tone.

" **By any means necessary**."

An uneasy wave of assent started spreading through the room, until Zeus spoke up.

"Are you quite sure that is wise, Athena?"

The goddess of wisdom gave Zeus a nonplussed look even as she asked in a light tone.

"Whatever do you mean, father?"

Zeus responded by straightening up completely, before he spoke.

"Are we sure that we wish to attack someone that does not pose an immediate threat to us? Someone that hasn't threatened or attacked any of us? Hell, with the way prophecies work, this may very well be naught but a child. Would you willingly and knowingly kill a child for a crime it did not commit, for acts that they did not perform?"

"But husband mine" - Hera interjected - "The prophecy already speaks of the path of this Red Dragon. Babe or not, their power grows, and they will become a scourge upon the world. We know what it's future holds, should we not act on this foreknowledge?"

Crossing his legs, the one to respond to this was not Zeus, but Poseidon.

"Surely you jest, sister? Do you remember not how prophecies tend to occur? How they tend to be self-fulfilling? Tell me, were father not to have been so obsessed with the prophecy given to him and attempted to swallow us, and focused instead on his rule, and on raising his children as a family, would he not still be whole and healthy today? And what about Achilles? Were they not Thetis' own actions, spurred by her fear of prophecy, which led to the sole existing weakness of Achilles, which ultimately led to his downfall? And what of Oedipus? If his father were more focused on raising his son than on the prophecy that he would be killed by said son, would that whole situation still unfold as it did?"

Artemis, however, was the one to respond to that.

"That whole situation could have just as well be completely avoided had the shepherd done what he was ordered to and left the babe to die on a mountain, or even if either Laius or Jocasta themselves had taken care of eliminating the babe, uncle. Do remember that before you try to make your point."

Jumping up from his tone, Poseidon spoke between gritted teeth.

"It would still be the wrong thing to do!"

Giving the man a glare, Artemis responded.

"And since when did you care about right or wrong, above your desires? Or did you forget Med-"

" **SILENCE!** "

For the second time in the day Zeus raised his voice, but this time his face held not just mild irritation but real anger, his blue eyes blazing brightly as he stared down Artemis, causing the redhead to flinch, yet she still kept her superior face, nose raised to the air and chin jutting out. After a few more seconds of being glared at by her father, and with Poseidon himself seemingly fighting hard to restrain himself, Artemis decided that it was better to not have the anger of the two strongest olympians directed towards her, which led to her leaning back into her seat as she turned her gaze away from her father's literally thunderous eyes.

Said thunderous eyes, and the _**Pressure**_ that came alongside them had managed to cow all in the room but for Poseidon, who still fought hard to regain his center, Hera, who was used to her husband's - _ever rarer_ \- anger, and Ares, who simply chuckled in amusement at this whole situation, thriving on conflict in the same manner a 'wine mom' does on soap operas.

Poseidon sat himself back on his throne, his trident appearing within his right hand from within a whirling cloud of bubbles gatheres from the air moisture around him, it's reassuring weight helping the god regain his center, while Zeus eased up on the amount of _**Pressure**_ he had been releasing, causing the bright light behind his eyes to dim, and the sudden stormclouds that had built up above a great part of Greece to simply disperse, something which came as a surprise to various human metereological services and studies.

Easing back onto his own throne, Zeus' thone held no less authority, even without him mustering his power, than it did when he was exerting his pressure.

"Poseidon is correct, on both accounts. On one hand, we could be dealing with an utterly innocent individual, babe or otherwise, who perhaps does not even have any idea of the supernatural world. To try to harm someone for something they have not comitted would be wrong. And while some may question the validity of others within the room raising moral questions-" Zeus gave Artemis a sideways gaze, causing the girl to put her hands together on her lap and look down like a scolded child "-the fact of the matter is that we, Olympians, have changed. We have come a long way from our begginings as arrogant, impetuous, willful egoists, and we have become older and wiser. It may not erase the mistakes of our past, however it can guarantee that we do not commit them again in our future."

These words had most of the olympians shuffling awkwardly, each of them looking back on their past actions through a different lens, with different standards for right and wrong and cringing at the sheer childishness and... _Badness_... of their actions. Others, like Ares and Dyonisius, were seemingly indifferent to Zeus' words, something which did not go unnoticed by the King of Olympus. Despite the different reactions, the greek King of the Gods spoke further.

"On the other hand, there is the fact that this individual, despite being innocent or guilty, ignorant or knowledgeable, weak or strong, likely has no reason to aim towards Olympus, something which could change were we to attempt anything against them. So, this becomes my command, none of the Olympians are to attempt to make contact with the Red Dragon of the East, and, if contact is to happen regardless, Olympians are to avoid conflict as much as possible. We are not to be the offenders in this situation, we have done quite enough of that, I would think. Knowledge of this prophecy is not to be given to anyone not already currently within this room, so I order, so shall be done. Dismissed!"

As soon Zeus said those words, some of the gods, like Ares, vanished into different colored bursts of light. Others, like Poseidon and Demeter, walked out of the chamber with specific goals in mind.

Aphrodite herself hurriedly made herself scarce from the throne room, heading towards her own home within Olympus, very much curious about this prophecy's mentions of lust, and dark charisma.

Left alone within the throne room, Hera, the queen of Olympus, spoke in a dark tone.

"You have become soft, husband. To allow such a risk to our very way of life to pass freely due to 'wrong or right'... I knew that that Odin man was a bad influence upon you. But worry not, for where the husband fails, the wife is there to aid. I shall find this Red Dragon of the East, I shall take care of it, and I shall safeguard the stability of our family."

As Hera spoke, a sneer on her face at the thought of one who would dare attack olympus, beautiful rosebushes blossomed around her feet. However, as soon as one's attention was capable of leaving the beautiful looking flowers, they would be left with the view of plentiful and massive thorns arrayed around the stem of the rose, arranged in a manner reminiscent of barbed wire.

 _ **-x-**_

"Much chaos and pain, eh?"

Ares chuckled, a deep rumble coming from within his chest that jostled the corpse that lied beside him on the bed, the woman whose husband had been lost to the war, whose mind he scrambled with a mixture of honeyed words and his divine _**Presence**_. Unfortunately, as was habit for him, Ares ended up losing control of his divine powers during copulation, and ended up breaking her with his godly strength, before his raw aura stopped her heart. None of this mattered to him as he could simply find himself another cumdumpster.

The god of war, who thrived on chaos, savagery, slaughter, bloodshed and conflict, could only sport a massive grin at the thought of this Red Dragon of the East person.

"Things are about to get _**fun**_..."

 _ **-x-**_

 _ **-Kuoh Academy, class 1-A -**_

The members of 1-A, the first year class of the current school year, could not hold back on their whispering. As you might have surmised, they were whispering about one Hyoudou Issei, the one to have achieved the best grades in their admittance exam...

Yet, an unashamed pervert, and a total delinquent. If his introduction hadn't been enough to clue one in those factors, then the fact that he spent the entirety of his class time so far sleeping at his desk, with the occasional mumble about ' _Succulent Oppai_ ' should do the trick.

However, due to his introduction, the scars on his arm and the honestly scary half-lidded red-rimmed looks that he gave to the assembled individuals during said introduction, none of the teachers nor students were willing to wake him up, the teachers under the excuse that 'since he scored so well and it's just the first day, it's okay for him to rest', and the students just being honest with themselves about being completely wary of the young man.

Soon enough the bell for lunch time rung, allowing the class' homeroom teacher, Matsuhiro Yowaiko, to speedwalk out of the classroom as fast as possible, leaving the children to deal with the troublesome delinquent.

While most would see this as a weird and cowardly action - _which it was_ \- one must understand that up until last year, the entirety of Kuoh's staff had literally 0 contact with delinquents. Between Kuoh being an all-girls school, a very effective student council, and what seemed to be extremely good luck with the other academies around the area, the staff did not ever have to deal with something like this.

To just toss a delinquent into their midst like this was already a pretty destabilizing blow. But for the delinquent to be in Yowairo's class, whose students had nicknamed ' _Yowai_ ' ( _weak_ ) due to his inability to cope with the pressure of dealing with the more difficult and willful students, was another thing altogether.

Now, with the professor gone, a question filled the classroom.

'Should we wake him up?'

Anyone seeing this will likely say 'Of course not, you idiots! He said that he was tired, and that he'd beat up someone who deliberately took the time and effort to annoy him!'. However, they must keep in mind that it was their break. _Lunch Time_. Was it not likely that missing lunch would make him angry as well? Which one would make him madder, getting woken up, or knowing that out of the 30 or so people in his class, no one had the decency - _took the risk_ \- to wake him up for lunch?

Luckily the dilemma that plagued the majority of class 1-A was dispelled altogether by a particular pair of individuals.

"ISSEI!"

"ISSEI!"

The voices of Motohama and Matsuda bellowed directly into each of the brunette's ears, causing him to jerk awake, and the other students to move back in a mixture of fear and curiosity about the delinquent's reaction.

However, rather than instantly gifting the pair with a knuckle sandwhich each, Issei's response to the bellows was to jerk awake, sitting up straight and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he mumbled.

" _If I don't find that motherfucking Vuvuzela..._ "

Motohama and Matsuda had to sweatdrop at Issei's sleep-addled mutters, as did the rest of the class, before they pushed through it, each of them taking hold of one of Issei's shoulders, causing the slightly more well-rested young man to wake up fully just in time to hear their declarations.

"ISSEI!" - started Matsuda, tears of emotion streaming down his face - "Your entrance speech was so inspiring! To so blatantly declare your dream in that manner!"

Motohama followed after him, tears also streaming copiously from under his glasses.

"INDEED!"

Rubbing his nose smugly at the praise being heaped onto him, Issei responded.

"Of course I declared my dream! It is what shapes me and my actions! To deny it would be to deny my own existance!"

These words caused the majority of the people listening to sweatdrop tremendously, while Matsuda spoke up again.

"UOOOHHH! I WON'T LET YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND IN THIS MANNER, ISSEI! I TOO SHALL PROCLAIM MY UTMOST DREAM!"

Matsuda twirled away from Issei in a disturbingly nimble and flexible manner, each step of space that he traversed around the classroom being a step that the other students took back in order to avoid contact with him. Despite this, he still spoke.

"A HEAVEN OF SMALL BRAS, CUTE TEDDY BEAR PANTIES, AND SLIM, PETITE BODIES... I WANT MY VERY OWN LOLI GIRLFRIEND!"

With the exception of Issei, Motohama and one other student, the entirety of class 1-A started shooting Matsuda disgusted glares, yet the young man seemed unaware of them as he imagined a rain of cute lolis - _legal lolis of course_ \- all around him, each of them bearing a pair of wings which they used to float around him, giggling alluringly, causing a massive blush and perveted chuckle to emerge from him.

"THAT'S RIGHT! I TOO HAVE A DREAM!"

This time it was Matsuda shouting, his finger adjusting his glasses even as massive tears streamed from under his uncannily reflective lenses, which didn't allow people to actually see his eyes.

"I DREAM OF KNOWLEDGE! GREAT AND FORBIDDEN, IT IS KNOWLEDGE THAT ALL HOT-BLOODED MEN WISH TO ATTAIN! I WISH TO CREATE AN INDEX, ONE WHICH STORES THE THREE MEASUREMENTS OF ALL THE WORLD'S HOTTEST WOMEN! THAT IS MY HEART'S DESIRE!"

The people that were previously glaring at Matsuda in a disgusting fashion extended similar looks towards Motohama, before whispers started wafting around the classroom.

" _Perverts._ " " _Perverted trash._ " " _Human Garbage._ " " _No-good perverted monkeys._ " " _Pervert..._ " " _Pervert..._ " " _Pervert..._ "

The whispers kept spreading through the classroom and increasing in volume, causing a familliar buzz to fill the ears of the perverted trio. Even back in their middle school, whenever they decided to open up their hearts and speak about the things they loved the most, others decided tried to denigrate them, to tear down their dreams, to say that they were wrong. Immoral. They had learned to ignore it for the most part...

" _Oii..._ "

However, the shaking form of Issei, his shoulders hunched and his eyes covered by his bangs was a new development. Seeing this apparent weakness caused the student's whispers to restart.

" _Who the hell are you calling a goddamned pervert!?"_

THat question, with shaking shoulders, had the whispers intensify further, some people doing so out of curiosity and interest, others out of malice. However, before Motohama, Matsuda or a certain glasses-wearing brown haired girl could intervene, Issei sprung up from his seat, his face revealed to be a rictus of irritation with flaring nostrils, twitching eyebrows and a throbbing vein on his forehead. Between that, his newly straightened posture, and the fact that he had clenched his fist, causing his toned muscles to bulge lightly had everyone holding their breath, preparing for violent retaliation or threats...

"I AM NO MERE PERVERT! I AM A **SUPER PERVERT**!"

The scared students all faceplanted at that, their expectations well and truly subverted. Before they could recover, however, they were once again struck by Issei's... Oddness... as he bent slightly bent forward, his right hand going for his chin while using the left one as support, before he started mumbling loud enough to be heard, however low enough that it was just him noticeably thinking aloud.

" _Wait, super pervert? Something's missing here. Ultra pervert? Uber Pervert? Omega Pervert?... Wait, I got it!_ "

He smacked his right fist into his left hand as if he had just found the solution to a major issue, before he spoke up in the same confident tone as before.

"I take back what I said, I am no _**Super Pervert**_... I AM THE _**PERVERTED EMPEROR**_!"

The rest of the class facefaulted again, all the while Motohama and Matsuda could only stare at their friend with nothing less than pure admiration.

"Issei...-" Motohama spoke up "-...When did you get so _cool_?"

"TO DECLARE YOUR OWN TITLE IN THIS MANNER! **SO MANLY!** I, MATSUDA, TOO SHALL EMBRACE MY IDENTITY! I AM THE MIGHTY PERVERTED BALDY, ALSO KNOWN BY THE TITLE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT PAPARAZZI!"

Motohama, swept up in this wave, spoke up as well.

"AND I, MOTOHAMA, AM THE THREE SIZED SCOUTER, WITH THE GIFT TO ACCURATELY MEASURE A WOMAN'S THREE SIZES WITH NOTHING MORE THAN MY OWN EYES!"

The three, sinchronized by years of friendship and the spirit of perversion, all called out at the same time.

" **AND WE ARE THE THREE PERVERTED SAGES OF KUOH!** "

"Ahahahahahahaha!"

Any response to their claim was interrupted by a person's laughter. Said laughter came from a glasses-wearing girl, whose brown hair was done up in a pair of thick braids, one on either side of her head.

"Oh my, for the three of you to so openly declare yourselves as perverts... How entertaining!"

Taking the initiative to answer, and doing so in a calm tone that didn't reflect his recent hot-blooded affirmations, Issei spoke.

"And who might you be?"

The girl smirked dangerously at the perverted trio, sending a shiver of danger down Motohama and Matsuda's spines, and one of thrill down Issei's as his instincts told him something good was just about to happen. Adjusting her glasses, she responded in her confident tone.

"My name is Aika. Kiryu Aika. You could say that I'm a bit of a pervert myself."

While Motohama and Matsuda felt like shrinking further at the mixture between her confident tone and shark-like grin, Issei felt a challenging smirk crawl up his face as he spoke.

"Indeed?"

The girl nodded, before responding.

"Yes, I am quite the perverted woman. And like your glasses-wearing friend over there, I possess a very special ability."

The attention of everyone in the room was peaked at that, with Issei being the one to curiously ask.

"Special ability?"

The girl grinned, her green showing way too many teeth and seeming way too shark in that exact moment, before she spoke.

"Your glasses-wearing friend, the... _**Three Sizes Scouter**_ , was it?... Possesses the ability to judge a girl's three sizes with a mere glance. I too possess that ability... But reversed! I can, with a single glance, measure any man's-"

"Oh look at the time, I gotta go eat!"

With those words said in a rush, Matsuda showed off the fact that he was a track and field athlete up until a few months ago by running out of the classroom at full tilt, with Motohama right behind him, and almost every other male in the classroom, leaving only the curious ones.

Aika already expected that to have happened, it was the usual response she got whenever she mentioned her ability, and it didn't get any less funny as time passed. She was, however, surprised with the fact that Issei didn't seem to even twitch at her words' implications.

"Hoh? You seem to be pretty calm, Mr. _Perverted Emperor_. Are you doubting my ability?"

Tilting his head, Issei responded.

"Not really. If Motohama can do it, then why couldn't someone else?"

This casual acceptance which was unattached to any sort of embarassment threw Aika for a loop.

"So... You accept the fact that I can just measure someone's junk with a single look?"

"Yup."

"And you're not nervous?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little bit?"

"Not even a little bit."

Licking her suddenly dry lips and adjusting her glasses, Aika spoke.

"I-if... If you're so sure about yourself, then... You wouldn't care if I used my power on you, would you?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Issei's words caused both Aika and the remaining girls, those who knew of Aika's skill either directly or indirectly, to suddenly start steaming under the collar.

After all, delinquent or not, pervert or not, Hyoudou Issei was still an _adonis_ of a young man, and while they may be dismayed with his personality which seemed to alternate between those two settings, the natural physical feelings, and their age-based curiosity was still there.

Still, Aika was going forward with this - a willing measurement.

The girl grabbed her glasses, adjusting them as she got into the mindset to measure...

"Wait a second."

The girl let out a disappointed sigh at that.

' _I knew he'd ultimately wuss out. All of these confident types ultimately do..._ '

However, what caused Issei to stop Aika was no a spontaneous surge of embarrassment and inhibitions, but a certain feeling he got when she had started focusing on him, and was just about to scan.

' _That feeling... There's no doubt about it, she was about to use_ _ **Tantric Energy**_ _! If she does that, she'll likely see how much I have of it as well!_ '

Before Aika or any of the other disappointed girls could do more than groan, Issei finished his thought.

"If you actually do end up _looking_... You'll end up finding something huge. Are you still sure you want to do it?"

Her palms twitching and her heart beating rapidly at that warning, Aika's cheeks turned red and her face shifted into a perverted grin as she spoke.

"Telling me these sorts of things... Only make me want to do it more!"

She adjusted her glasses, subconsciously tapping into her own _**Tantric Energy**_ as she mentally called out.

' _ **Measure-men!**_ '

 _ **CRACK.**_

Everyone still in the room was utterly stunned when the lenses of Aika's glasses cracked, steam all but coming out of her ears as she stuttered out.

"S-so m-massive... H-h-how I-is this po-possible!?"

With these last words, she woddenly fell back onto the ground, perverted giggles occasionally escaping her, while neither her nor Issei were aware of the consequences of this last interaction.

" _So massive..._ " " _Did you hear what she said?_ " " _He's gotta be huge!_ "

These comments went unheard by Issei through the sheer fact that he was focused completely on the 'out-of-it' girl.

"Oiiii... Aika... Well, I guess she's broken. Off to lunch, then."

As he grabbed his bag to go out to eat lunch, Issei's heart dropped into his stomach at the ring of the bell that signalled the end of lunch. Hungry, still not fully rested and sleepy again now that the thrill of displaying his nature alongside his friends, Issei's demeanor changed completely from the loud pervert to the slouching delinquent as he slouched over his desk, falling asleep immediately.

 _ **-X-**_

 _ **-A few hours earlier, Kuoh Academy Student Council Room-**_

 _"...Calm down, Sona, or at the rate you're pacing you'll find yourself wearing a hole into the carpet!"_

 _The one who spoke was Rias Gremory, the red-headed 2nd year student of Kuoh Academy who, alongside Himejima Akeno, was considered one of Kuoh's great Onee-sans._

 _"Calm down? Calm down!? Did you see how he was dressed? Did you hear what he said? What was supposed to be a successfully inspiring speech to motivate the student body in general into achieving better grades was turned into a complete an total...!"_

 _"Ara Ara, you seem to be much too tense, Sona-san. You're usually more composed than this... I find your annoyed and flustered self to be more amusing. Just for that reason I'll already say I rather appreciate this Hyoudou young man. Plus, with such an individual so close, I'm sure that there'll be various opportunities for... Punishment... Ufufufufufufu~"_

 _Akeno's words, which had started by annoying Sona, ultimately ended up completely terrifying Sona's peerage, composed of their fellow second year student Shinra Tsubaki, Sona's queen, first year Kusaka Reya, Sona's bishop, first year Hanakai Momo, her other bishop, Meguri Tomoe, Sona's sole knight at this point in time, and Yura Tsubasa, Sona's sole Rook._

 _Sweatdropping at this, Rias spoke in a somewhat exhasperated tone._

 _"Akeno, will you please stop that?"_

 _The purplette turned towards her king, a smile on her face as she spoke._

 _"Hoh? Buchou, are you saying that you're also all flustered by thinking of that young man?"_

 _At that question, rather than responding to Akeno in kind with a tease or something such as both Akeno and Sona expected, Rias responded by biting her lip for a while, before speaking up with a frown._

 _"The mixture between his arrogance, his nonchallance and his casual perversion remind me of... Him."_

 _Seeing that the conversation took a turn to the serious, Akeno's teasing chuckles dropped in favor of a serious countenance, while Sona spoke up._

 _"I'm not quite sure what to do about him yet, do you have any suggestions?"_

 _Biting her fingernail for a while, Rias took some time to think, before speaking up._

 _"So far I can only think for you to keep an eye on him. While he might not have said what was expected, or wanted, of him during his speech, he didn't really break any of the school's rules. You know that as much as I do, which is why you did not take immediate action. So all we can really do is to watch him, to learn what type of person he is, and to see if he truly will try to break the rules. Other than that..."_

 _The buxom redhead ended with a shrug, causing her childhood friend to let out a sight, before she spoke to her peerage._

 _"Very well. We are going to follow Rias' suggestions. I want you girls to covertly watch the Hyoudou boy for any rule breakage or infractions and report it to me."_

 _With that said, Sona finally switched her focus over onto something not related to the delinquent young man's speech._

 _ **-Chapter, End-**_


	16. Anti-Social Butterfly

_**I'm still standing better than I ever did ~**_

 _ **Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid ~**_

 **Well, as the blatantly copyright-infringing lyrics imply, I'm still around and down for stuff! Some personal issues had me slow a bit, but I managed to find myself a bit of time, so... Here we are!**

 **Also, before I forget, a friend of mine advised me to see if I could try to 'monetize my talent', and he convinced me to open a Pat reon. You can find my at Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz . You are not obligated to either donate, nor to check out my at all, but if you feel like it... Why not?**

 **With that out of the way, Onwards to the story!**

 **-** _ **x-**_

" _Let me get a piece of you, you sexy, sexy thing!_ "

Mewls could be heard through the walls, matched by the sound of rustling clothes, before the voices restarted.

" _Let me get a piece of that fine ass~_ "

" _No, dear_ " Papa Hyoudou's voice drifted through the walls, sounding to the red-eyed Issei's senses as if they were spoken just 5 feet from him at regular volume " _I'm tired from work. The boss has an eye on me for a promotion, so I need to put in the effort and get the results to show him I'm serious. That means that I'll be tired more often._ "

" _But honey, you've been working yourself to the bone for two weeks straight!_ "

" _And I'll work myself for as many more are needed if it means you and Issei get to live happy, comfortable lives!_ "

" _Dear~_ " Mama Hyoudou's voice came out as a purr " _Speaking like that doesn't help your case much~_ "

Papa Hyoudou gulped loudly, before Mama Hyoudou pulled her hands away from his crown jewels, placing them on his shoulders and digging deeply into his knots, causing him to release a deep groan of relaxation.

" _Since you're working yourself so hard, I'll make an effort as well and let you recover your strength for today! Plus, you better prepare for a high protein breakfast to get your body and mind running at peak efficiency! Now lay down on your stomach and let me work my magic._ "

Even more relaxed groans could be heard from their room, before Papa Hyoudou spoke up.

" _How are you so good at this?_ "

" _You remember Shokkiko?_ "

" _The taylor one?_ "

" _Yes, exactly! We were college roommates, and... Well... We were very close. I've been thinking about asking you if you didn't want to invite her over, to do some stuff together?_ "

" _That would *Yawn* be great, honey. I'll *Yawn* think about it._ " Papa Hyoudou's words were followed up on by deep snoring.

Mama Hyoudou smiled at her hard-working husband, pulling the covers over him and pecking him on the lips, before she snuggled up to him and allowed herself to go to sleep as well, her breathing lightening in mere minutes.

Issei, from his spot in bed, all but sang praises to all of the gods whose names he knew.

Two weeks!

Two weeks had passed since he touched down on Kuoh. Two weeks had passed since he started his first year in highschool. Two weeks had passed since Issei last had more than 2 hours of sleep in a row.

Those two weeks were spent in a state of constant half-consciousness during the entirety of his day, mainly at school, with the majority of the students avoiding him for a myriad of reasons, and only a few of them being related to the fact that he was an absolute pervert.

He had a memory of himself growling at someone one time or another, though he didn't really know who or why. He did trust himself not to do things for no reason, so the person he growled at was likely asking for it.

For the entirety of these two weeks, the only solid company he had were his two friends Motohama and Matsuda and, surprisingly, a girl, Kiryu Aika. Motohama and Matsuda were being their regular selves, getting Issei to discuss their favorite subject whenever he was actually awake, while Aika seemed content on just standing back, watching him with a gaze that was half-bemused and half-hungry, all the while she wrote down notes on a small pad of paper that she had taken to carry on her person, perverted giggles escaping from her.

Other than that, Issei had very little contact with the student body, though he did feel more than a few people gazing intently at him, rather unlike in middle school during which they made a concerted effort to pretend that he didn't exist, like they did Motohama and Matsuda.

This may just be a result of his clothing style, however. Issei had neglected to tell his parents about the fact that his clothes weren't a proper fit, due to a combination of tiredness and purposeful avoidance, so he couldn't really dress 'properly', but even if he could, he likely wouldn't.

He tried putting his blazer - which fit him properly - on, and to tie his tie properly, yet it felt somewhat constricting, and very uncomfortable to him, so he decided to stick with what worked, and ended up inadvertently solidifying his place as a delinquent amongst the denizens of Kuoh Academy.

But still, sleep! Beautiful sleep, for an amount higher than just 2 consecutive hours! And it came at a time most blessed, after all...

 _ **-x-**_

"IT'S THE KUOH ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION CLUB RECRUITMENT DAY!"

Dozens of students jumped in fright at the sudden shout from the perverted trio, and the uncannily cheerful Hyoudou Issei, whose unnatural happiness and cheer put everyone more on edge than any growl or flat-eyed stare that he had previously given anyone else.

Rolling her eyes, Aika spoke up.

"It's just the club recruitment day, I can't see why you guys are so excited. I witnessed quite a few during the Middle School days, and they were always boring as hell."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Issei tutted even as Motohama and Matsuda, copying his pose behind him, shook their heads.

"Oh, Aika. Sweet, Naive Aika, girl which my Issei-senses tell me is kinky as all hell Aika, you simply do not understand the greatness and the significance behind this specific day of they year. It shall behoove me, in my incredible wisdom, benevolence and generosity, to educate you in the significance behind this, most holy of school days."

Pulling a notepad and pencil, Aika nodded towards the perverted sages as an indication of her focus on them, prompting Issei to speak up again.

"First, I would like someone to tell me what club recruitment is!"

Motohama, adjusting his glasses, spoke up.

"Club recruitment day is the day during which all of the school's clubs set up a recruitment stand in order to draw students in, as more students enroled means a better club, a higher budget, and a higher probability of someone becoming skilled enough to compete at various different levels, from intercollegiate, to regional, to national and, if you're good enough, all the way to world class. These increased numbers also allow the senpai of the club to ensure that their replacements have been properly trained by having them be tutored by the second years and the more advanced club members!"

"Exactly correct, my friend!" Issei's voice rang out, the entire spectacle attracting the attention of quite a few people around them, all the while Aika wrote down what was being said. Nodding to himself, Issei spoke up.

"Now, can anyone try to guess as to why club recruitment day is such a big deal?"

Seeing that no one was volunteering to answer, Issei turned towards Matsuda, ignoring the glint of sunlight reflected off of his shiny head, before he spoke again.

"Matsuda, as a former sportsman, please tell me what a club recruitment day tends to consist of!"

The bald-headed pervert saluted Issei in a military fashion before turning to face Aika and speaking up.

"Club Recruitment day consists of introductions to club members, an abbreviated summary of the club, it's goals and any expectations, and a practical demonstration of their activities!"

Issei nodded sagely at that response as well, before speaking up again.

"Do you understand, now?"

Aika rubbed her chin lightly, before shrugging.

"No idea at all."

Letting out a put-upon sigh, Issei spoke again.

"Aika, you must remember that club demonstrations are practical affairs. Now, think about which academy we study at." Not giving the students around him the time to actually do so, Issei cut off any possible responses "We study at Kuoh academy, an academy that has an 8 to 2 female to male ratio, a ratio which only applies started this year since males only applied this year. This means that every single club demonstration will be performed by our fairer-gendered classmates. All clubs, from track and field, to tennis, all the way to swimming, will have to put up a demonstration!"

Tears of exhultation poured from the faces of the three perverts as they shouted out in tandem.

"SPORTY GIRLS WEARING BLOOMERS AND TIGHT SHIRTS ADVERTISING FOR US TO JOIN THEIR CLUBS!"

Aika's eyes widened as she finally gained the revelation, while the other students around the four of them shot the three perverts looks of disgust, and Aika looks of confusion and/or pity.

Issei, Motohama and Matsuda, used to this sort of treatment, simply shrugged the looks off like water off of a duck's feathers, as Issei spoke further.

"We shall be given explicit permission to witness these beaufitul young maidens performing physically extrenuous activities which will result in them panting and huffing, their chests heaving heavily within the tight constraints of their uniforms, rivulets of sweat highliting the soft curves and sharp angles of their bodies, their soft lips attaching themselves to the opening of a water bottle as they work on cooling themselves down..."

Issei, Motohama and Matsuda were all releasing streams of happy tears, their fists clenched in determination.

"Now, do you understand the significance of this, holiest of school days?"

Aika had started writing furiously on her pad, so fast that one might expect smoke to trail up from it, her cheeks and face stained with a slight shade of red, even as her mouth, twisted into a lascivious grin, released a series of perverted giggles.

The people watching the scene forcefully tore their attention away from it, trying to suppress the conflicting feelings that Issei's words had caused to appear within them.

His charisma really was a dangerous thing.

The three perverted sages returned to a normal demeanor, the extra excitment vanishing altogether at a jarring speed that would have a regular person experiencing emotional whiplash, before Issei wrapped one of his arms around Aika's shoulders in a friendly gesture.

"Now, onwards to the festivities!"

Motohama and Matsuda raised their fists up in the air with a cry of "YEAH!", before the four of them made their way through the school grounds, Issei directing the still writing Aika.

' _This is just such good material! But what should I title it?..._ '

 _ **-x-**_

"Join us here at the Kuoh Academy Swimming Team! Our teaching methods have led to the emergence of 4 national level athletes in the last 7 years, with 3 of the four recieving gold medals in their particular fields! If you wish to make a living out of swimming, then it's us that you need to check out!"

The speaker was a 3rd year student clad in a sukumizu, the ever popular blue one-piece swimsuit adopted by pretty much every educational facility in Japan that provided lessons related to swimming and pools. Most couldn't really take the time to analyze her face, since her swimsuit-clad body sported a pair of bouncing c-cup breasts that fully magnetized his head, as well as it did to various other students around him, the males moreso than the females.

She was Kazuki Juri, a brunette of average height with a cute, rounded face and body that, breasts aside, trimmed and slender, the captain of the swim team and a girl who had no compunctions in making use of her natural assets in order to further the goals of the club that had made her a good enough swimmer to place silver in regionals. While many would feel that it was embarassing, demeaning or dirty to make use of her gifts and beauty to lure more individuals to her club, she had no such thoughts.

She was of the mentality that 'if you have it, use it', and as long as certain lines were not crossed, than pretty much everything was fair game. And if someone said that it was unfair, or tried calling her any names over it?

Well, she was sure that the legions of new members in her club would be more than willing to console her.

She turned 180 degrees on top of the stand she was on, gifting the individuals on the other side with the privileged view of her front that they had been denied for a while, her arm up high and waving in a manner that caused her assets to bounce hypnotically, before she caught sight of a particular group of individuals.

One of them she had previous knowledge of, a certain Kiryu Aika, and her very particular, yet unerringly accurate, 'skill', but she knew nothing of the three boys other than rumors, word of mouth, and the little speech at the start of the school year, seen as she was a third year student, and the boys were just firsties.

Still, she had to acknowledge the fact that the delinquent one, Hyoudou Issei, had the body of an adonis , with the exception of down there, where he defied the classical greek standard of perfection ( _according to Kiryu at least, but Kiryu was trustworthy in these sorts of matters_ ). Plus, seeing him cheerfully smiling and joking around with his friends rather than sporting a semi-apathetic glare showed the fact that his face was actually pretty cute, in a boyish manner.

A lightbult all but showed up above her head as a sudden idea came to her. She thrust her arm forward in a move that caused her breasts to bounce forward, her index finger outrstretched and pointing towards the group of four.

The rest of the students parted around said finger like the red sea, causing a corridor to sping up between the now static and very much surprised group of four, and the one that called out.

Issei silently pointed towards himself, prompting the girl to nod as she spoke.

"Yes, you! How would you like to participate in a demonstration with the swimming club!?"

Juri didn't give Issei the time to think things over or to refuse, hopping down from her raised platform and moving towards him, taking hold of his arm and pulling him towards the locker rooms.

The brunette, his eyebrows raised in bemusement, spoke up.

"I don't even have a swimsuit on my person."

"You don't need to sweat the small stuff like that! As one of the country's premier athletic groups as far as swimming goes, we have an extensive list of resources available to our club and it's members! Just go in and change!"

 _ **-x-**_

10 minutes had passed since Issei had first entered the locker rooms, prompting Juri to knock on the door before calling out.

"Hyoudou-san, is everything alright?"

Issei's muffled voice came from behind the steel door.

" _Well, yeah, but... Are you sure that there's no mistake here?_ "

"Not at all, Hyoudou-san! Every condition for a propicious demonstration has already been arranged for, and all we're missing is you!"

" _...Okay..._ " he spoke in a dubious tone " _I guess I'll just have to trust your word._ "

With that being said, Issei stepped out of the locker room, causing almost the entirety of the academy to grind to a halt.

Issei Hyoudou, a young man with an Adonis-like build, crafted from a mixture of intense training and life and death battles, all in a magical environment, and known to be naturally gifted in a certain manner that could certainly justify any questions about possible shared ancestry with equine creatures, revealed himself to the large crowd that had amassed around the swimming club's display, curious over an unplanned practical demonstration...

Clad only in a red speedo.

A breeze blew through the violently silent - _and this was likely the only occasion in which silence could be described as violent_ \- courtyard, carryind a small tumbleweed that was just unexplainably there, before anyone could regain their balance.

Smacking her suddenly dry lips, Juri managed to recover enough of her cognitive functions to speak into a microphone that was connected to a pair of loudspeakers - _Kuoh A/V staff was extremely efficient_ \- that were set up around a table that bore a load of swim club pamphlets and registration forms, her wide eyes glued to the first year's... well... _Everything_.

"W-well, as we can see, Hyoudou-san is in the appropriate dress for any sort of competitive swimming sport. Pros do not wear swimming shorts or trunks as most would wear to the beach, but wear a speedo instead, in order to minimize the hydrodynamic drag and ensure that they are achieving optimal speeds. It is also for this same reason that swimming caps are utilized. U-unfortunately, we seem to have come into a shortage of caps, so Hyoudou-san's demonstration shall be done as is."

No one really noticed Juri kicking a red swimming cap under the table, before she spoke up again, her tone more steady as she recovered her composture.

"Now, the first thing one must do before entering the pool is hitting the showers, to minimize the chances of impurities or polutants to get into the pool. Hyoudou-san, if you'd please..."

The brunette shrugged, turning around and walking towards the small, doorless shower stall that was just a few feet away from the pool and in full view of the people watching, causing him to miss the way that many of the girls - _and, disturbingly enough for him given his orientation_ \- a few of the boys bit their lips at the view of his taut, hard cheeks.

He turned on the shower, closing his eyes as the water splashed onto his face. The majority of the girls present had to contend with a series of intense physical sensations, both known and unknown, at the sight of rivulets of water traveling down Issei's heavily defined and well-toned back, before the brunette turned around, displaying his front to the crowd - _which seemed to just keep increasing in time_ \- and _stretched_.

A chorus of sighs and swoons filled the air, prompting a few conflicting feelings to emerge in the majority of the female population as far as Issei was concerned, while the male population of the school felt an almost unanimous dislike that was usually reserved for the likes of Yuuto Kiba, whose sheer existence exponentially decreased their abilities to find romantic partners in the academy.

Motohama and Matsuda streamed bitter tears at the occurence, their natural dislike of pretty boys clashing with their loyalty to their best friend, and the sheer amount of grudging respect that he managed to wrangle out of them in going from toad to prince in the time frame of a single vacation trip.

"I'm done showering, now what?"

Issei's words knocked sense back into Juri, whose composure had decided to take a small trip to china when her eyes fell on Issei's toned pectorals and shoulders, leaving the rest of her consciousness behind and muttering gibberish, allowing her to speak into the mic after clearing her throat.

"Now, Hyoudou-san is supposed to enter the pool-"

Issei dove into the pool before Juri could finish speaking, before his body broke the surface of the pool with a splash in a hollywod-worthy scene, the sun caught at the perfect angle to cast shadows in a specific manner over particular parts of his body, emphasizing his build, while he arched his back, pool water flying from his brown - _with a single purple bang_ \- hair, causing the spiky mess to soften a bit, lightly clinging to his forehead and the back of his neck, all the while more water dripped from his torso.

"-by climbing down the ladder..."

The brunette blinked owlishly at that, giving the senior a sheepish grin, his right hand scratching the back of his head boyishly as he spoke.

"Oops?"

The senior student shook herself free of the young man's influence, her mind going through the optimal way allow her club to profit off of this demonstration.

' _Between the fact that our sport is performed in swimsuits and water, and my little recruitment campaign, I already expected to snag quite a large amount of male members into the swim club, but if I manage to put on a good show right now, I may get even more, since literally everyone is watching us right now! Plus, if I manage to convince Hyoudou-san to join our club, we will not only have such a physical specimen that is likely capable of high level competition, but we'll also have a bit of eye candy to lure more girls into the club, and to provide moral support for our female club members, and motivation and a goal to reach for the male members!_ '

Seeing a way to milk this for all it was worth, Juri spoke into the mic.

"Now, I shall be joining Hyoudou-san and we shall be reenacting what a basic swimming lesson giving to initiates ought to be like."

Before anyone else could say a thing, Juri put down the mic, hopped under the shower for 10 seconds, and then dove into the pool, repeating Issei's motions as far as the Hollywood surfacing scene goes, with an added bonus of bounce, causing the watching boys to whistle and holler at her.

They were silenced by the collective amount of female anger directed at them, while a pink-haired first year girl spoke up.

"KEEP YOURSELVES UNDER CONTROL, YOU PERVS!"

A massive and collective sweatdrop appeared behind all of the male students that had made noise, the same thought going through their minds.

' _The lot of you were just drooling over Hyoudou too..._ '

Of course, faced with the prospect of having all of that anger aimed at them for the entirety of their stay at Kuoh, the boys wisely kept themselves quiet, unwilling to point out the sillyness - _hipocrisy_ \- of the girls' actions.

"What now, Senpai?"

Issei's voice had everyone paying attention to the pool, the brunette delinquent's _(?)_ voice somehow being clearly conveyed clearly to everyone present, despite any distance or ambient noise issues that should occur.

 _Unnoticed by most, a certain Himejima Akeno wiggled her fingers as blue sparkles jumped from them, her general sound amplification spell being noticed solely by her King who could do nothing more than shake her head in exasperation._

"Now we demonstrate the basics. Tell me, Hyoudou-san, do you know how to swim?"

"Yep."

"Well, for the purpose of this exercise, we will act as if you were a complete novice."

Juri grabbed one of the foam kickboards that were poolside, handing it to Issei before positioning him in a stretched out, stomach-down position.

"Keep a tight hold on the board."

The brunette grabbed it with no complaints, before Juri waded through the waist-deep water towards him, placing one of her hands on top of his and getting him to stretch his arms forward, while her other hand was on the lower side of his torso, where some would consider to be a danger zone.

"Now, Hyoudou-san, all you need to do is kick your feet lightly."

The brunette did so, small splashes emerging from where his feet met the pool. After a few minutes of this - _and of Juri's hand thoroughly exploring Issei's abs_ \- Juri spoke again.

"Now, turn around and hug the board to your chest, Hyoudou-san."

Issei did as instructed, appreciating the cool water of the pool, before he sputtered and flailed in surprise as a pair of unfamiliar arms wrapped around his body, a pair of breasts pressing tightly into his back as Juri spoke straight into his ear in a tone that would be inaudible if not for a certain sadist's interferance.

" _Don't worry, Hyoudou-kun, senpai's got you~_ "

The male populace glared at Issei with such intensity that it was a wonder he didn't just burst into flames, even with most of his body submerged, while the female populace imagined themselves to be in that situation, be it with Issei, or even with Juri, depending on their own tastes. Some were even contemplating an Issei/Juri sandwhich, with themselves in the middle.

Meanwhile, various other clubs started plotting. The swim club was expected to pretty much bea out all other clubs as far as male recruitment rates went, because, well... Swim club! However, that would have left the female students as the true contest, with each club trying to make up for this gender differential, and to just win in raw numbers. Normally they'd have to depend entirely on their recruitment speech, and the charisma of their speaker, how much their flyers could really influence the students and so on and so forth, but the existence of Hyoudou Issei changed all of this.

The club that managed to get Issei to sign up would likely find themselves flooded with applications from girls! With such a high amount of girls joining, boys would as well, either because they wanted to surround themselves in as many women as possible, or because they'd attempt to 'keep Hyoudou away from the girls'.

An unspoken war was declared within the grounds of Kuoh between the various clubs. The win condition?

Recruit Hyoudou Issei.

Said brunette was still enjoying the sweet embrace of his senpai, his nostrils flaring as he felt the soft pair of breasts pressing into him, small nipples hard and poking against his bare back forcing him to restrain his lustful aura, lest he cause an impromptu orgy.

"Now, Hyoudou-san,I want you to hold onto the board with only one of your arms."

Issei nodded lightly, disentangling his right arm from Juri's, which caused her to reposition herself in such a way that Issei's head slid between her breasts, which caused the brunette to let out a mild curse as he fought to keep control of Issei Jr., while Juri herself released a breathy moan, normally inaudible, but amplified under current conditions.

"N-now" Juri spoke in-between grunts "I want you to try a backstroke alongside senpai, okay, _Hyoudou-kun_?"

The brunette nodded, which caused Juri to moan out loud, before he stroke backwards with his right arm, rubbing the side of her breasts and forcing a whimper out of her.

" _V-very good, Hyoudou-kun. N-now, Senpai wants you to change arms, hug the board with your right arm, and stroke with your left one._ "

The brunette followed his senpai's instructions, switching arms and stroking backwards, causing her to let out a moan that forced many a male student to change positions.

" _Now, Hyoudou-kun, repeat this alternating motion in a steady rhythm._ "

The brunette did so, stroking backwards then switching arms, again and again, trying to ignore the myriad of sensations and sounds that his 'tutor' was making, lest he accidentally destroy what amounted to school property, if one were to catch his drift.

' _Think unsexy thoughts! Dirty socks! Garbage mounds! Rancid milk! Armpit sweat!_ '

Juri, seemingly determined to give Issei a Hard Time, in more than one sense of the word, leaned into him and purred within his ear.

" _Don't worry, Hyoudou-kun, Senpai won't let you stroke alone~_ "

' _Ohgodohgodohgod! Hairy gorillas! Male bodybuilders! FEMALE bodybuilders! Hairless Orangutans! Girls that punctuate every sentence with 'like'! Homosexual Bear in a gimp suit trapped within BDSM dungeon!_ '

With those thoughts in mind Issei managed to completely curtail the expected physical reaction, lasting all the way to the end of the practical demonstration.

As soon as his senpai released him, Issei hopped over the side of the pool and into the locker room. Less than 3 minutes later and he was already fully dressed and outside the locker room, his face in as nonchalant an expression as he could make it.

Juri, having gotten back to her senses as soon as the sight of a speedo-clad Issei left her perception, decided to go forth with her recruitment campaign. She gave the brunette an inviting smile, curling a few strands of her hair around her finger as she spoke.

"So, _Hyoudou-kun_ , what did you think of the practical demonstration?"

The brunette coughed self-consciously, banishing the ghostly sensations of a pair of breasts on his back and the breathy moans in his ear, before he responded as nonchalantly as possible.

"It was... alright."

"Will you be joining the swim club?"

Her question was asked as she leaned forward, her arms positioned so that they would lightly press her breasts together, causing them to appear bigger, while droplets of water still ran down her swimsuit.

"Y-... I'll think about it."

Juri pouted at Issei, a pout that the brunette turned away from as he walked back towards his friends, the incredibly Jealous/Proud Motohama and Matsuda, and the smugly smirking and utterly entertained Aika. Before Issei could actually leave, Juri halted him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Err... Since you haven't chosen to join the swim club, then you can't really keep swim club property, Hyoudou-kun. I'll be having your speedo."

The brunette gave a weak, chagrinned grimace as he spoke.

"Left it behind in the locker room."

Having said that, he shrugged off her hand and took hurried steps away from the entire situation, flanked by the crying Motohama and Matsuda, who alternated between cursing and congratulating him, and Aika, who snickered to herself as she scribbled on her pad.

 _ **-x-**_

The rest of the day was an exercise in control for the young Hyoudou. It seemed that every single club was interested in performing some interesting practical demonstrations as soon as he was within visual range.

The Tennis club girls seemed to be swinging their rackets with a particular level of intensity that caused their already criminaly short skirts to flare and flip, all the while releasing 'grunts of exertion' that were more fit for a porno than a tennis match, and that was saying something when you had the likes of Maria Sharapova making international broadcasts a trife more awkward than expected.

The Track and Field girls just so happened to decide to go through a few stretching exercises when he got close, exercises which involved loads of bending over, toe touching, and leg spreading. Add to the the way that one of them deliberately held eye contact with him as she slowly gulped down the water from her bottle, and it was easy to see how things were getting dicey.

When they walked through the Judo club exhibition, Issei's entourage was given front row seats to grappling that seemed more appropriate to a wrestling match between two victoria's secrets models in a kiddy pool full of baby oil in the playboy mansion.

While some clubs, like the chess club, and the majority of the academics clubs, couldn't really pull some such trick to try to lure him, pretty much every sports club did so, which made Issei's situation precarious.

'But Narrator-' I hear you asking '-why is Issei's situation precarious? Isn't this supposed to be a good experience for him?'

You're not wrong. This was an amazing experience for any pervert of Issei's caliber or inclinations. The reason why the situation was precarious for Issei was due to the clothes he was wearing.

We must remember that, at Issei's current strength level, he is capable of punching craters into concrete without even bruising his knuckles. Issei was built _solid_ , and this applied to the entirety of his body, and it's parts.

 _All of them_.

While this wouldn't be a problem were he wearing the clothes that he had taken with/bought during his trip, since he had them enchanted in Luxuria, regular clothes... Well, that was a different problem altogether.

It was embarassing enough for a normal guy to get a boner in regular, properly-fitting trousers. They'd likely have to do quite a bit of adjusting, and even then there was the possibility of things being noticed.

Now, apply this same concept, but to someone whose body is strong enough to break steel, who is wearing run-of-the-mill, non-enchanted, _undersized_ clothing.

What for most would be mild embarassment, for Issei would be indecent exposure to the highest degree.

That is why Issei has been constantly supressing himself.

This suppression did not occur without secondary effects, however. To any normal man, being forced to suppress themselves while subjected to the myriad of situations and stimuli that Issei did would already be very difficult. Now, make all of these situations occur in a consecutive fashion, with little to no reprieve, to an individual that all but _breathes_ sex, who also happens to have an animalistic part that was both very hedonistic and irritable in nature, and...

Well, Issei's mood was in the dumps.

Motohama and Matsuda, having noticed this, decided to skip on their antics for the day, something which Aika noticed. After a long stretch of tense silence, Aika decided to try cheering Issei out. She opened her mouth-

"OI! WHO IS THE BASTARD THAT OWNS THIS SHITTY SCHOOL?"

-Before a loud shout had her, and everyone else, turning towards the gates of the academy in surprise. The source of the voice was an absolute surprise for them.

The speaker was a young man, seemingly around the upper teen age group. He was tall and lanky, with a full head of shaggy, blonde hair, with brown roots, a brown which matched his pierced eyebrows, making it obvious that he was a bottle blonde. His eyes were brown as well, his nose was thin and pointed, and his lips were, similarly, very thin. He was clad in a white long-sleeved shirt, with a red vest over it, a pair of faded blue jeans, with rips on the knees, and a pair of grey sneakers.

He was flanked by an average-bodied young man of about the same age, whose traits were best described as remarkably average to the point of blandness. Brown hair, brown eyes, average nose, average mouth, average height and weight, and clad in a shit, jeans and sneakers, this guy was the type of person that you would have trouble noticing amongst a fair sized group of people, much less remembering him. He was just that unremarkable.

The last member of their group was a bit more remarkable than the last. He was a bit taller than bland-face, yet shorter than lanky, with a square, stocky build. He was bald, with an extremely bushy unibrow, a wide and flat nose that sported a single dermal piercing on it. His lips were thick, and his jaw was as square as his body. He was wearinga leather vest with nothing underneath, revealing his chest, stomach and arms, a pair of leather pants, and black boots.

The one in the lead, Lanky, spoke.

"I ASKED FOR THE BOSS OF THIS SHITTY SCHOOL!"

Noticing that no one seemed inclined to speak up, he decided to give some expository dialogue just for the sake of it.

"I'm Kaz, and these are my boys, Jude-" the unremarkable one nodded at that "-and Buta-" this time, the stocky one with a leather fetish nodded, before Kaz spoke again "And we're the owners of Kuoh, the Back Street Dragons!"

The three of them seemed to stand up straight at that declaration, as if their name filled them with great pride, even as Kaz continued.

"Up until a while ago Kuoh was just a wimpy all-girls academy, with no one dumb enough to try to join the game and claim ownership. Imagine my surprise when I hear from my sources that this academy suddenly got claimed as soon as it went co-ed! Some cocky fuck with more balls than brain decided to claim the school before checking if the territory was already occupied or not!"

Jude, the bland one, tried his best to give a menacing scowl, though it came out more like a grimace, while Buta managed an ugly scowl that would have a mirror begging to be put out of it's misery.

"So I want this Hyousou Jossei fuck, or whoever he is, in front of me, right now!"

As the delinquent spoke, the members of Rias and Sona's peerages that were in the high school division had started positioning themselves in a strategic manner around the crowd of people, preparing a mild area-of-effect hypnosis to allow Yuuto to take care of the three gang members with no added fanfare and without creating any extra scrutiny, but their plans were intruded upon by a certain young man.

"Dragons?"

A snort emerged from Issei's nose even as he moved to stand across from the three gang members, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders in a relaxed slouch.

"The three of you couldn't even qualify as geckos, much less dragons."

The 'Back Street Dragons' bristled collectively, Kaz taking a menacing step forward - _frowning when i failed to elicit any reaction_ \- before speaking up rudely.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Giving the faux blonde a half-lidded stare, Issei responded.

"Man, you're stupid. You called out for a 'Hyousou Jossei' - which doesn't exist, anyway - and you fail to relate the name to the only person that actually came forward to talk to your dumb ass."

His eyes widening angrily, Kaz took two strides towards Issei before grabbing him by the collar, his nostrils flaring at the sheer impassiveness of his target, before he shouted straight to his face.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A FUCKING GAME, HUH!? WANNA GET YOUR ASS KICKED, TOUGHT GUY?"

"Get your _filthy_ paws off of me, _Trash_."

Issei's tone stunned the majority of the people present, people whose 'opinion' of Issei shifted on a dime the instant they saw some sort of use for him, causing them to all but forget the 'Delinquent' and 'Dangerous' labels that they had given to him.

Kaz, on the other hand, wasn't stunned. No, he was pissed. He let loose with a right cross aimed at Issei's face, only for the brunette to take half a step forward and smash his forehead into Kaz's nose half a second before the punch could have connected, causing the blonde delinquent to release Issei's collar and reel back in pain and surprise, a rivulet of blood going down his nostrils.

Buta, having a keen appreciation of violence, took no time to dash towards Issei and letting loose a punch with his right hand, a sloppy punch that had little form behind it. Issei dodged the punch, it's left-handed counterpart that came as a follow-up, and a sloppy front kick before he kneed the leather maniac in the gut, causing him to double over, before raising his right leg, aligning the bottom of his shoe with unibrow's face and pushing, knocking his attacker backwards and stomping on his face in a display of utter contempt.

Rather than trying to push his advantage, Issei, driven by his frustration and his draconic sense of pride and arrogance, took a few steps back, giving the delinquents the space required to regain their balance.

"I'm giving you three a second chance to come at me. Do try not to disappoint me as you have been so far."

The three gang members, angry yet weary, traded looks amongst eachother, nodding in what seemed to be agreement before dashing towards the brunette all at the same time, Kaz from the front, Jude from the right and Buta from the left, attacking with the intent of overwhelming Issei and not giving him the time to retaliate.

Rather than react as they expected and panicking or trying to move back to make space, Issei retaliated by dashing straight at Kaz, causing their eyes to widen, before Kaz had the breath literally kicked out of him, as Issei spartan-kicked him, right on the sternum.

He followed up on the knockdown by kicking Kaz in the ribs, bruising them enough that the bottle blonde would be staying out for the rest of the fight.

In a quick move, Issei was already sweeping the legs out from under Buta, causing him to fall backwards, before following through with a stomp to the face that rattled him, causing the leatherbound delinquent's sight to swim, leaving him temporarily unable to control his body.

The brunette turned his unnervingly placid look towards the last man standing of the 'gang' before speaking up.

"You want some of what your friends had as well?"

Jude shook his head so quickly that he got whiplash.

"Then pick up your _Trash_ , leave my school, and _never_ come back. If you do so, well... _**You won't enjoy the results**_."

The bland-faced 'henchman' helped both of his gangster friends to their feet, wrapping an arm of each over his shoulders and slowly shuffling away from the dangerous animal that toyed around with them before effortlessly destroying them.

As he watched them amble away, Issei snorted derisively, before speaking to himself.

" _Dragons._ Pffft, those bastards weren't worth the label of scum beneath my feet, much less _Dragons_."

Rias, whose hearing was much better than a regular person's, met Sona's gaze with a frown, seeing more and more familiarities between the first year student and _**Him**_. Before either her or Sona could say or do anything, however, someone else did.

"That was amazing!"

A random voice, from a random person within the crowd reached Issei. This voice turned into two, then four, then more and more as each person heaped their praise on Issei.

" _Hehehe..._ "

The boy's sardonic chuckle stopped any further exclamations of admiration, before he spoke.

"The lot of you are no better than the trash I just tossed away."

A stunned silence filled the people present, before they all started speaking simultaneously, each of them shouting a different thing at Issei. Soon enough indignation had become outrage, and all sorts of offenses were being thrown, with things bordering on devolving into physical violence if the looks Issei was given were correctly interpreted.

Before any member of either the Student Council or the Occult Research Club could try to deescalate the situation by working their magic, literal or figurative, Issei himself spoke.

"The lot of you judged me instantly and with a single glance, during admittance. Rather than trying to get a measure of my character by actually getting to know me, you 'decided' on what my image, my identity was, and you treated me based on it. Fear and despise were what you chose to give me. Fearful looks when I was looking, but disdainful glares whenever you believed me unaware, as if I were less than trash.

All of a sudden you bastards see some sort of value or utility in me, and I turn into «the chosen one», the «exalted». Every club suddenly wants me as a member. Yet, these same people that wanted to have me join them as one of their own did absolutely jack shit when some assholes showed up with obvious violent intent.

Not before, during or after my little... Altercation... did the lot of you even move a finger to do something useful. None of you decided that it was a good idea to try to deescalate the situation before the fight occured, none of you thought that it was a good idea to help me in a 3-to-1 fight, and none of you thought to at least go out to get a teacher, or any figure of authority, to try to sort things out.

The only people who actually tried to help me were Motohama, Matsuda and Aika. The three of them tried to convince me to just avoid those bastards, but when I decided to actually step up to them, Motohama and Matsuda volunteered to help even the numbers, while Aika decided to go call a teacher to put a stop to this. They would've done it too, if I hadn't convinced them not to."

Allowing his cold, dead fish-eyed stare move through the entire crowd around him, Issei snorted at all the people that were averting their gazes from him, before he walked back towards the three people in the school he could trust, taking his bag back from them before, in a deliberate motion, turning his back on the entirety of the student body as he walked away from the school.

Motohama and Matsuda didn't hesitate to flank Issei, neither did Aika to follow after the three of them, her pencil scribbling madly at her pad.

The students of Kuoh, chagrinned after their dressing down, dispersed altogether, each of them making their way to wherever it was they went after the end of the school day, leaving behind only the members of the student council and the Occult Research Club.

Crossing her arms, Rias spoke up.

"This boy... Sure, he has the right to be annoyed, but to dress down the entirety of the student body in such a manner..."

Sona took off her glasses, wiping the lenses on her shirt and putting them back on, the angle causing the glare to hide her eyes as she spoke.

"He was justified in his actions. None of the students did, actually, provide any sort of aid, even after the entire dog and pony show that was performed in an attempt to recruit him."

"Well, he could've had a bit more humility in how he expressed himself..."

"...Rias, that's a weak argument, and you know it. No one tried to help him, no one said or did a single thing. Are you going to say different?"

"We had our peerages ready to-"

"Our peerages did _nothing_. Our slow action allowed things to escalate to that degree. We did nothing after Hyoudou manifested himself, before any violence actually occured, all because the two of us were too busy scrutinizing him for any wrongdoing, despite the fact that he was not the instigating party, and despite the fact that nothing he did before ever broke any rules.

We expected him to do so, we crafted an image of him such that we acted as if he had actually offended, impugned or in any way broke the rules. If anyone here has responsibility it is us, both as Senpai, and as the ones responsible for the school.

I will do my best to make ammends for Hyoudou-san, Rias. I'd advise you to do the same... But I expect you to be much too stubborn to actually listen to me."

Having said that, Sona and the rest of the student council left the scene, leaving behind only the Gremory peerage.

Biting her lower lip, Rias spoke to herself in a low tone.

" _Could it be that I was too rash?... But... No... No, I can't start questioning myself now. I have more important matters to take care of at the moment._ "

Shaking her head, Rias walked off to the old school building, Yuuto following after her with his usual smile.

Akeno, on the other hand, was still standing in place, her mind in a faraway place, images of a certain Kouhai of hers toying with his would-be aggressors before _ruthlessly_ taking them down as he did, before tearing a new one on the entirety of the student body with no hesitation, in a tone of voice most would use to discuss the weather.

" _Hyoudou Issei... What an interesting young man..._ "

Were one watching the Gremory queen at that specific moment, they would feel a chill of terror at the gleam in her eye, and in the dangerous way in which she licked her lips.

" _Ufufufufufu~_ "

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_


	17. The Dragon is a Part Timer

_**Harems are awesome and 2d 3d. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.**_

 _ **Haha, now that the little introductory joke/quip/thingie is out of the way, I can properly introduce myself. Hello, I'm the same guy as the one who's been writing so far, and I am totally not a reptilian clone or some sort of evil android sent to replace him.**_

 _ **I come again, fellow humans, to deliver some entertainment to you all in a written form, so that we may respond in suitably human forms, with various emotions such as joy, sadness, and so on and so forth.**_

 _ **As I said in the last chapter, I recently opened up a Pat reon for myself, and, if you feel curious about you, you can find it at Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz.**_

 _ **Now, onwards to the story!**_

 _ **-x-**_

The night was cold and silent.

" _OH GOD, GIVE IT TO ME, BIG BOY!_ "

...Half of that sentence was true, but it was not the silent part, unfortunately for a certain Hyoudou Issei.

He would, however, tolerate any sort of bone-chilling cold if it meant that he didn't have to listen to his parents playing 'swords and scabbards' during the time period he was supposed to be sleeping.

' _I... I can't keep going like this! If something doesn't change very soon I'll go and do something drastic, like shave my hair and move to France! The french are quiet enough to allow people their sleep, right?_ '

" _YES, RIGHT THERE!_ "

' _Maybe France isn't far enough? Scandinavia? Norway? Maybe I'll move to the South Pole or something, I heard somewhere that they were employing people for construction work there... Or was that a manga I read? Man, I'm so tired I can't even tell reality from fiction!_ '

' **While I get that you're going through very traumatic experiences and all, aren't you being just a** _ **tad**_ **bit dramatic? I mean, moving to France?** '

' _What would you suggest then, oh wise old dragon?_ '

Purposefuly ignoring Issei's sarcasm in the knowledge that it'd annoy him more than acknowledging it, Ddraig responded.

' **How about you just move out of here? Buy yourself a new house, or rent an appartment or something more reasonable.** '

' _Yeah, but aren't you forgetting something? Those things tend to require money, something that I don't have!_ '

' **So you don't have money... But you were planning on moving to France?** '

' _...I'm sleep-deprived AND traumatized, cut me some slack!_ '

' **Sure, sure, it's the sleep-deprivation and trauma. It totally** _ **wasnt**_ **just a reflection of your intellect, or lack of it anyway...** '

' _...Sometimes I hate you, you know?_ '

' **No sometimes here, kid, it's a constant state of loathing from me.** '

" _IYAAAAAAAAHN!_ "

Issei flinched before he could give Ddraig his biting, cheeky, sarcastic response of high intellect - _Hey, what's with that snort!?_ \- a single thought going through his mind as the response to his problems.

' _I need to get a job._ '

 _ **-x-**_

" _Zzz... No, you can't take it... The cake is... Mumblemumble..._ "

Humans are beings of habit. They prefer to live their lives in an orderly manner, following on previously established patterns, even if it often meant living lives full of self-delusion or self-destruction, and wallowing in mediocrity, awkwardness, self-recrimination and guilt, if it allowed one to stay within their comfort zone.

One of the primary comfort zones for humans was the social ladder. Some people are at the top, others at the bottom, and most people tend to stick to where they reach at all costs, least they be forced into a situation that is different than what they were used to. It doesn't even need to be a worse situation, it just needs to be different, unknown.

The unknown is, after all, one of humanity's greatest fears.

And that is part of the reason why the students of Kuoh were perfectly fine to forget everything that had been said and done during the Club Recruitment Day by a certain first year student.

Hyoudou Issei was change personified. Between his physical attractiveness, his generally apathetic and irritable - _sleep deprived, but they wouldn't know it_ \- behavior, his surprising demonstration of happiness and cheer amongst his friends, and his ability to switch on a dime and effortlessly kick the crap out of delinquents, both physically and morally, Issei was pretty much a hurricane within a jar, liable to get loose and toss everything into the chaos that people preferred not to deal with.

So, with all of this known, it was a no-brainer that people resumed their previous treatment of Issei, not stopping for even a second to reflect on the previous day's events, and the fact that the brunette seemed to be deeper than his usual delinquent image tended to convey.

This did not, however, mean that these people were safe from the hurricane of change.

No. Issei was already amongst them, so it was far too late. Directly or indirectly, the boy had the ability to throw things into disarray, and these same people that fought so dearly to adhere to the status quo were going to be shaken to their core.

A few minutes had passed since they bell for lunch period rung, and while the majority of the class was still organizing themselves into their social groups, lunchboxes in hand, Issei was catching up on his sleep. A small buzz filled the classroom as the various students held their conversations, the regular murmur of a large amount of people having conversations within an enclosed space, yet this buzz was silenced altogether when the door to their classroom was slid open.

Few chose to look towards the figure that had just entered the classroom, but the fact that the gazes of this few stayed on the figure with interest prompted the others around them to look as well, until everybody in the classroom had their eyes locked onto the figure of Shinra Tsubaki, the Vice-President of Kuoh Acadamy's student council.

Tsubaki's gaze roved around the classrom, widening slightly in recognition as they landed on the a certain brunette - _with a single purple bang_ \- young man.

"Hyoudou Issei-san?"

Issei, who had woken up at the ring of the lunch bell and was preparing to go eat his lunch outside with Motohama, Matsuda and Aika, turned towards the source of the voice, before speaking up.

"Yes?"

Tsubaki adjusted her glasses, the motion causing her breasts to lightly bounce, though the slight grimace she bit back showed that the act was accidental. She was surprised when Issei's gaze stayed firmly meeting her own, even as his two male companions started giggling perversely amongst each other, and the sole female in the group fixed the Vice-President with a penetrating gaze that caused a single chill to go through her. Pushing all of this aside, Tsubaki spoke up.

"My name is Shinra Tsubaki, and I am the Vice-President of Kuoh academy's Student Council. I have been sent here by the president, Shitori Souna, in order to request your presence in the council room."

Ignoring the storm of whispers that emerged from around the classroom, Issei answered.

"Is this a request, or is it a _Request_?"

Blinking lightly at the question, Tsubaki answered nonetheless.

"Souna-kaichou made it clear that the invite was optional, and that any response you gave was to be respected."

Issei traded looks with Aika, since Motohama and Matsuda were still off in la-la-land, the two shrugging before Issei stood up from his seat, sliding his bento back into his bag.

"Lead the way."

 _ **-x-**_

"Enter."

Sona - _or rather Souna, as the general student populace knew her as_ \- spoke with little to no inflection in response to the pair of knocks that sounded from the Student Council Room's door, even as she sat behind her desk, reading through a stack of papers.

She wasn't surprised to see the form of Hyoudou Issei walking into the room, though she was surprised at the sharpness of his gaze as he looked around it, his eyes seemingly moving without missing a detail.

' _Curiouser and curiouser..._ '

Sona remained silent, watching Issei as he analyzed the room, the clicking of the door being closed by Tsubaki and her walking past him and positioning herself behind her president being only peripherally acknowledged by him, as if the two people other than him that were present in the room were secondary to his curiosity.

After a few moments of almost total silence, with only the ticking of a clock filling the airwaves, Issei finally shifted his gaze towards Sona, before speaking up.

"You summoned me?"

Tsubaki seemed to bristle lightly at Issei's lack of respectful address, but Sona raised a hand before she could do anything, only to wave said hand at the chair in front of her desk, placed right across from her.

"Please, take a seat."

Shrugging, the brunette sat himself down on the chair, releasing a surprised noise at just how comfortable it was, before turning his full focus towards the student council president, waiting for her to speak.

Noticing that she had Issei's full attention, Sona spoke.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Hyoudou-san. I am, as you may or may not know, Shitori Souna, the student council president. As the student council president, I am tasked with overseeing any major events occurring within school grounds, such as the Recruitment Drive that occured yesterday."

The girl paused for a second to allow her guest to dissect and digest her words, continuing only after the almost imperceptible nod from the brunette.

"As such, I tend to be the first person to arrive at school, and one of the last people to leave, and I also tend to, alongside the rest of the student council, oversee the academy's entrances and exits during high traffic periods."

Issei's already focused look sharpened further, his gaze gaining a seemingly penetrating quality that had Sona feeling like he was looking both at her, and past her. Ignoring these sensations, and the odd, indescribable chill that it brought to her, Sona kept speaking.

"This means that we were present yesterday, during your confrontation with those delinquents that came looking for you."

"I see."

The emotionless tone from the boy raised the hairs on both Sona and Tsubaki's arms, forcing Tsubaki to actively suppress her reflex of jumping in front of her king in a protective act. Sona herself was taken aback at the boy's tone as he spoke.

"I take it you... Don't approve... Of my actions back then?"

While inwardly nervous, Sona still mantained her composed air and tone of voice as she spoke.

"While I believe that you could have taken a less... Inflamatory... and violent... path, I do not really have the grounds to say whether they were right or wrong."

Issei blinked in surprise at that, his piercing gaze being replaced by a curious one that allowed both Tsubaki and Sona to relax, before he spoke.

"How do you figure?"

Sona cleared her throat, before speaking.

"I was present during the entirety of that... 'Demonstration'... With the swim club. While you did indeed consent to a demonstration, I believe that much of what occured there stepped over quite a few lines, and it was the responsibility of the student council to ensure that it was either prevented, or corrected. Most other sports clubs engaged in behaviors that, while less so than the swim club, could also be considered improper towards you. Any frustration or imbalance caused by those acts are as much the responsibility of those clubs for having caused it, as it is of the student council for having allowed them to occur.

And in regards to the confrontation... It should have not occured. The instant that three unknowns marched into our school, calling for a student of our academy with noticeably violent intent, the student council should have acted in the best interests of the student. Be it calling a teacher, the police, or even direct interference, we should have in some way acted in order to protect a student of our academy.

Condemning your actions when they were only a proportional response to the threat posed to you, both verbal and physical... You can understand why I cannot do so."

Sona surprised not just Issei and Tsubaki, but even herself when she pushed back her chair, standing across Issei, and gave the brunette a bow.

"I apologize to you, Hyoudou-san, or behalf of both myself, and the entirety of the student council."

The brunette's eyes were wide and glued to Sona even as she returned to her seat, causing him to miss the incredulous look that the Vice-President shot to her boss due to her uncharacteristic actions, before he leaned back into his own seat, his tone a mixture of surprised and sheepish as he spoke.

"I... Didn't really expect something like this happening, but..."

His hand went to the back of head, scratching it in a sheepish motion as he finished.

"When a pretty girl gives me such an honest and heartfealt apology like that... How am I supposed to do anything other than forgive her?"

Sona blushed lightly at the pretty girl bit, her imbalance due to a mixture of her embarassment and her surprise at her own actions causing her to be quite a bit candid.

"It's all forgiven? Just like that? Really?"

Shrugging, Issei responded even as he rubbed his nose with one of his fingers.

"Someone who is at the top of the food chain at the school, as it were, didn't really have to apologize to me, especially for something that I hadn't really connected to them, but you still did it anyway. And it wasn't some sort of public and formal apology made only to save face and improve your reputation, you gave an honest and heartfelt apology for something that others wouldn't even consider their responsibility.

Plus, it's not like there were any real _problems_. I played around with a few misguided individuals, ensuring that they learnt that straying from the right path resulted in consequences, and I learnt that the majority of the students in this academy aren't the least bit trustworthy, so... Forgiven. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd rather not really miss the possibility of eating lunch..."

Taking a steadying breath and noticing the open-ended sentence of the brunette, Sona nodded towards the council room's door, prompting Issei to give her a small smile before he left, the door clicking softly behind him.

"Wow, Kaichou. I didn't expect you to go as far as bowing to him in apology..."

Sona adjusted her glasses, before speaking.

"Neither did I, Tsubaki."

Ignoring the surprised look her queen gave her, Sona continued.

"That Hyoudou boy... His gaze felt like that of a dangerous animal, and the air around him... Between that and his easy shifts into friendliness... What an interesting person..."

Tsubaki's eyes widened at that, before she spoke.

"Kaichou, are you thinking of recruiting him to your peerage?"

Sona, rather than answer at the moment, stood from her chair, making her way towards the large window placed behind her customary seat, watching over the various Kuoh students that had decided to spend their lunch breaks outside, her gaze falling onto a group of four that were sitting below a tree. The pigtailed girl in glasses seemed to be snickering at something, while the bespectacled young man and his bald compatriot moved animatedly, limbs flailing wildly, all the while the young man that had left the council room just a few minutes ago looked at the two of them with a smile of fond exasperation.

The boy blinked, before his gaze moved directly towards her, despite the fact that the angle of the sun should be obscuring her figure and making her impossible to see, and gave her a genuine, closed-eyed smile.

She nodded in response, watching him talk to his confused and interested friends, before answering.

"I promised Rias that she'd have priority in recruiting from here, in order to deal with her situation..."

Knowing that her King hadn't finished speaking yet, Tsubaki kept silent.

"...However, with the way that she seems bent on superimposing her problem onto him, and with how stubborn she is... Well, I will simply say that it is a possibility. Even ignoring the fact that he showed himself capable of singlehandedly handling three attackers at once with no injuries to himself, the look in his eyes... There are hidden depths to that boy."

Tsubaki couldn't help but nod at that assessment. It seemed that interesting times were afoot in Kuoh Academy.

 _ **-x-**_

"Hey Issei, I got a copy of 'Round and Bumpy: Nippy-chan', and me and Motohama were planning on giving it a playthrough. You down for it?"

"Hey, what about me!?"

Matsuda's gaze moved towards Aika, half-wary and half-apologetic as he spoke.

"Well, I didn't really think that you'd much appreciate spending your free time playing ero games with three guys and all..."

Aika wrinkled her nose at that, before responding.

"Yeah, you're right, that doesn't really sound like a good time."

The three turned towards Issei, who shrugged before answering.

"Sorry, but I can't make it today. Busy."

While Motohama and Matsuda shrugged at that, commenting about 'too bad he'd miss the good stuff', Aika focused an inquisitive gaze on Issei, her pad and pencil on hand as she spoke.

"Busy, huh? Anything interesting? Maybe picking up girls? Picking up a gyaru, taking her to a love hotel and-"

"Nothing as interesting as that, unfortunately. I'll just try to find myself a part-time job."

The pigtailed pervert pouted at that, muttering in a tone that was inaudible to most.

" _That's too bad, it'd have been great research..._ "

Issei muttered 'research' to himself in a questioning tone before simply dismissing it with a shrug of his shoulders, waving his friends goodbye before he moved towards the commercial district in Kuoh, eyes shining bright in the expectation of earning himself his first paycheck!

 _ **-x-**_

"I'm quite sorry, but we don't believe that you possess the right set of traits to represent our store's brand."

"I understand..."

Once again, Issei left another store with his shoulders hunched, having been rejected by another employer for one reason or another. He'd spent hours looking for a job, talking to managers, extolling on his virtues and life skills...

' _I don't really have any formal training, but I'm strong as an ox, and Igot a mean right hook!_ '

...But he was rejected every time, for some unexplained reason. His employers seemed very nervous as they did it too, for whatever reason.

Shrugging that thought aside, Issei noticed the fact that it was already late in the afternoon, with the sun close to setting. Intent on not letting his parents believe that he had been kidnapped or something of the sort, Issei made his way to a payphone in order to call home.

He got to a payphone just in time to watch a swaying man, with the smell of booze wafting off of him, bump onto said payphone, before managing to regain his footing and wobble off.

Shrugging that off, Issei pushed in the needed coins to operate the Payphone and made the call.

"Mom, it's me, Issei. Yes. Yes. No. Yeah, I know it's getting late, it's why I called... I'm looking for a part-time job for myself... No, I'm not in any sort of trouble... Yes, I'm sure... I'll be home in a while. Yeah, love you too!"

"Did you hear that, gentlement? Big bad boy _wuvs_ his mommy!"

The laughter of various different individuals reached Issei, who simply ignored them and went on his own way. The laughing figures, a group of teenage delinquents - _and damn if there wasn't a surprisingly high number of them lately_ \- bristled at the fact that they were just ignored, before skulking off.

 _ **-x-**_

"Okay, I can say it now... I am officially lost."

Issei looked around himself, his eyes rapidly moving past and picking up the details of all of the unfamiliar buildings surrounding him, before he saw a curious scene from the corner of his eye.

The same delinquents that had taunted him earlier were moving as a line, noticeably herding someone into a dark alley.

Issei debated just ignoring it and going back to finding his way back home before his mother blew a gasket, but, inwardly cursing his soft heart, ended up following after the group, to analyze the situation properly.

As he peered past a corner and into the alleyway, his eyes easily ignoring the fact that visibility was reducing by the second as the sun kept moving, Issei was faced with a very odd sight.

Seven delinquents were surrounding a single guy.

The odd part wasn't the fact that delinquents were trying to prey on someone via numbers, no. It was the fact that their target was a behemoth of a guy, easily measuring at a good 6 feet something, likely 6'4" or 6'5". He was noticeably overweight, on the border between chunky and obese, but despite the fact that he should eclipse all of the average-heighted japanese delinquents, most of which seemed to be in their late teens to early twenties, the big guy was the one cowering away from them, his presence meek as a scared mouse.

One of the delinquents, whose appearance and identity Issei couldn't give two shits about, spoke up.

"Daichi, old pal', old friend... How're you doing today?"

The trembling and now named 'Daichi' answered in a noticeably terrified tone.

"L-leave me alone, Shun! I don't have any money on me!"

"You see, Daichi, I don't know why, but, for whatever reason... I don't really believe you. So I want you to jump, right now."

Daichi's eyes widened to the extreme at that moment, before he vehemenly shook his head, causing Shun to frown.

"Daichi, old buddy, with the way you're acting one would think that you're trying to hide something, which would be really weird, since you told me straight to my face that you had no money. Did you lie to me, Big Dai? Did you?"

Daichi winced when Shun called him 'Big Dai', before he started speaking in a panicked tone.

"I-I-I... The money isn't mine!"

Shun breathed out an interested 'Hoh~', while Daichi nervously babbled.

"My uncle sent me to the bank to get some money to buy stuff for his business! I need to give this money to uncle, so please, just let me go! I'll... I'll get you some money tomorrow! I'll just ask for an advancement on my allowance!"

Shun chuckled lightly, a sound that was copied by his various henchmen, before he spoke up.

"Usually I'd just let you go with that, Big Dai, but I can't. You lied to me, tried to cheat me. You really hurt me, big guy! So now... I get to teach you a lesson."

As he said that, Shun stepped forwards towards Dai, only for a voice from the alley's entrance to reach them all.

"Man, there's scum of all types in this world, huh..."

The delinquents turned towards the source of the voice, squinting and scowling as they tried to make out the details on the sillhoute that had spoken to them, the angle of the sun stopping them from actually seeing Issei clearly.

The lamps around the street started finally turning on, one by one, allowing Issei's form to finally be revealed to the others in the alley, causing 'Shun' to scowl as he spoke.

"Wait a second... You're..."

Shun took a step forward, a scowl on his face as he reached into his jacket.

"My younger brother, Kaz, told me all about how you jumped him with a bunch of guys and beat the crap out of him."

When he took his hand from his jacket, he was holding a switchblade.

"Payback time, bitch."

Issei's gaze locked onto the switchblade with a high level of intensite, before he looked back up at Shun and spoke.

"Your brother and his friends came at me with words and fists, I let them go easy with a few lovetaps and a warning. If you come at me with a weapon, I won't be so easy on you. Are you sure you want to do this?"

The delinquents responded by arming themselves further, picking up pipes, wooden planks and broken bottles, prompting Issei to shrug nonchalantly.

"Suit yourself."

Having said that, Issei _Blurred_ , appearing beside one of the thugs that was holding a lead pipe and kicking his right leg, causing him to go down to his knee, before palming his entire face and slamming him head-first into the wall, causing him to crumple, unconscious.

Without looking back up at the rest of the delinquents, Issei spoke.

"Are you _still_ sure about you current path of action?"

His response was a terrified shout, preceded by a rushed charge from one of the downed guy's friends, a 2x4 raised for an overhead blow...

" _Stupid._ "

Only for Issei to, in a blur of motion, turn around, get back to his feet, and obliterate the wooden plank with a single punch, before kicking the attacker in the nuts so hard that his feet left the ground for a few instants.

By the time Issei turned his focus to the rest of the group, the previous one was already curled up on the ground in a puddle of vomit, his body trembling from the excruciating agony.

The rest of the delinquents tried rushing Issei all at once, only to bump into eachother due to the limited width of the alley, which gave Issei the time to hit another one of them with a jumpkick, causing him to fly back-first into a wodden crate and crumple over, down but still breathing.

Before the rest of the group could do much, Issei's fists and feet had already flashed out in a storm of motion, putting all of the delinquents other than 'shun' out of comission.

The leader of the delinquents took a step back when Issei's gaze fell on him, taking another one when Issei took a step forward.

The lights that illuminated the alley flickered before going out, steeping it in darkness, before flickering back on, revealing the fact that Issei was no longer in his place.

"How about them Packers, huh?"

Shun spun around, his switchblade whistling as it cut through the air, only to meet nothing.

" _Missed me._ "

Shun spun again, his blade flashing with the intent of hitting the source of the voice that kept speaking straight into his ear, only to, once again, meet nothing.

He started looking around wildly, his eyes wide and chest heaving as he did his best to try to find the brunette.

The lights flickered out again, prompting Shun to slowly move with his back towards a wall, only to hit something solid sooner than he expected to. He looked back and over his shoulder just as the lights came back on, the visage of a glaring Issei, with green irises with slit pupils, and a maw full of sharp fangs to meet him, causing him to jump away from the Hyoudou youth. He blinked once, only for all of these monstrous traits to suddenly not be there.

His hands trembling, he pointed up at Issei before speaking up.

"S-stay away from me, you monster!"

Rather than feeling insulted, the brunette chuckled lightly, before responding.

"A monster, huh? I don't really mind the title..."

The amusement vanishing from Issei's face altogether, he leaned into the trembling delinquent and spoke in a tone that was little more than a menacing hiss.

" _Now you better get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass. And if I find you, or anyone else making a mess out of my city..._ _ **I'll show you a true monster**_."

"HIYEEEEEE!"

Screeching, and with a suspicious brown stain on the back of his pants, Shun ran away from the alley as fast as he could, leaving behind a chuckling Issei.

"W-wow... That was amazing..."

The brunette turned towards the stunned Daichi, shrugging as he spoke.

"It was nothing, really. Just making sure that the trash in my city is taken care of, is all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get yelled at by my mother."

"N-no, wait, don't go yet! We need to make sure you're not hurt!"

"I'm okay, dude. They didn't even touch me."

An obstinate look came over Daichi's face as he spoke.

"Still, I can't just let you go like that after you helped me!"

Daichi bit his lower lip before he grabbed Issei by the arm and tugged him out of the alley, and towards a street that smelled of smoke and booze, full of flashing lights, neon signs, and scantily clad women standing around corners. Despite all of this, Issei's mind was on a single detail.

' _Holy crap, this kid is strong as hell!_ '

Despite the fact that he wasn't really fighting it with full strength, Issei was putting out enough resistance that a grown man shouldn't be able to move him even a milimiter, yet Daichi was easily manhandling him, as if he was weightless!

' _How does a kid this big and strong allow himself to get picked on like he did?_ '

Issei looked at Daichi, _really_ looked, finally commiting his traits other than his size and strength to mind.

The boy had shaggy, brown hair which was covering his eyes, a regular-sized nose, not too straight and not too crooked, and slightly thick lips. His skin was darker toned, like someone from southern asia, like the southernmost parts of Thailand.

Issei's observation was broken when Daichi walked past a particularly noisy bar, with more than a few motorcycles arrayed in front of it, taking him into the alley right next to said bar and walking him through a steel door and into a back room.

"Stay here, I'll go get my uncle and he can check you over."

Shrugging, the brunette sat himself down on a steel chair, letting out an explosive sigh.

"Heh" a deep voice let out a mild chuckle, before continuing "Kids your age shouldn't be sighing like old men."

Issei turned towards the source of the voice, seeing a tall, muscular black man wearing a bartending apron bearing various stains. The man was completely bald, with brown eyes and coffee-stained teeth, a slightly thick nose, regular-sized though dark chocolate-hued lips and a goatee, and chest and biceps so wide that his shirt was straining to keep them contained.

The man was carrying a first aid kit which he placed on a table beside Issei, pulling out a flashlight and taking the brunette's chin between his fingers as he shined the light into his eyes.

"Timely response, pupils contracted as expected, eyes following the light properly... You don't have a concussion, so that's pretty good."

The man followed up by taking hold of Issei's right hand and kneading it a bit, hm'ing curiously before speaking up.

"My nephew told me you punched a 2x4 into smithereens, but you have no fractures, nor even torn or bruised knuckles..."

"I trained. A lot."

The man chuckled again, the sound rich and low, before speaking up.

"Must've been a helluva training, then. As far as doctor Andre can tell, you're good to go."

"Guess I'm going, then."

After saying that, Issei sighed again, prompting the now named Andre to speak up.

"You sound tired, kid. Wanna talk about it?"

Shrugging to himself and figuring out that it couldn't make things worse than they already were, Issei decided to confide in the man.

"I spent the whole day looking for a part time job, but I found only squat, of the diddly variety. Then, I got lost, before having to face a bunch of thugs that were robbing a guy-"

"My nephew, Daichi."

Issei nodded at that.

"-and now I'm uber late, and I'll probably get shouted at by my mom, before she tries to smother me in hugs and kisses."

Andre chuckled again before gaining a thoughtful look, standing up and uttering.

"Follow me."

Shrugging, Issei followed the man past a pair of doors, only to walk into a scene of chaos and bedlam.

Men of various sizes and shapes, many of them bearing various scars, tattoos, or any other indicators of a misspent youth, or a less-than-friendly relation with the authorities, filled the room. Many of them were sitting at different tables, having conversations at shouting volumes in-between taking swigs of whatever it was that they were drinking, while others were playing a game of pool, making all sorts of innuendos and dick jokes based on their cue sticks, and making nasty comments about each other's mother.

Two burly, bearded men stood to one side of the bar, shirtless and having a fist fight, while a group of other guys cheered them on and bet on the result of the fight.

Taking all of this in a single, uninterrupted sweep of the room, Issei looked towards Andre and spoke.

"Uhh... What am I doing here, exactly?"

Andre scratched his goatee thoughtfully as he spoke.

"Well, you said you were looking for a job, and my nephew said he saw you effortlessly taking apart 6 armed brats, before scaring the bejeezus out of the seventh one. I'm thinking about hiring you to work for me, kid. My place has all sorts of rough people come and go, so I need someone capable of keeping them in line and minimizing the collateral damage. You'd be expected to regularly break apart fights, and, if needed, kick out some of the more unruly patrons, so the pay is hellaciously good, but it's not an easy job, you may need to occasionally work some late shifts, and it is, obviously, in the red light district.

Are you up for it?"

Thinking things through for a while, Issei shrugged before speaking up.

"What's my expected pay?"

Andre reached into the front pocket on his apron and withdrew a chit of folded paper which he proceeded to hand over to Issei. The brunette unfolded the paper, only to choke at the amount written on it.

"W-what... What is this?"

Shrugging, Andre spoke up.

"I know that it's not much, but it's a good starting point when I don't even know how long any of my employees are going to last."

His brain still fried, Issei mumbled.

"N-Not much..."

"Well, if you last enough time, your pay raises accordingly. Plus, you get a minor cash bonus whenever you manage to take care of a fight with little to no collateral damage, and you get to keep any tips."

" _S-so many zeros..._ "

"So, kid, you up for it?"

Giving Andre the most serious look he could muster - something that caused the man to freeze in surprise, a chill going through his spine - Issei spoke in a decisive tone.

"Tell me what to do, boss."

The man chuckled at that, patting Issei on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Not so fast, kid. I need to be sure that you can properly reign in my type of clientele. You could start by breaking apart those two shirtless bozos in that corner."

Nodding resolutely, Issei further rolled up his shirt sleeves, all the way up to his biceps, before striding decisively towards the two fighting men.

"Oi, you big lugs! Boss doesn't like you fighting, so I'm here to make sure you don't fight."

One of the two men, the one with the biggest beard, and with a big dog tattooed on his chest, turned towards Issei, growling out at him.

"And how's a pipsqueak like you gonna make that happen?"

Issei stayed silent, prompting the man to chuckle before speaking up.

"See, you can't do shit. Now go back home to your momma before I- urk!"

The man was interrupted by Issei's right hand wrapping around his throat and pulling him down so that the two were eye-to-eye, before Issei, for the second time this day, hissed menacingly.

" _Listen to me, you criminal scum. I haven't had the best time here in Kuoh. I've spent two weeks straight sleeping only two hours a day, dealing with shallow, idiotic classmates, and with absolutely zero bitches fucked after spending time at a place that would make Hugh Heffner weep in joy and believe in god, fucking beauties of all different sorts. I'm currently... annoyed._ "

Everyone in the bar stopped to watch the scene, curious about the fact that 'Mad Dog Eddie' was being manhandled by some kid that seemed to have exceptional strength, seen as the Mad Dog seemed to be slowly turning blue from the hand wrapped around his throat, and the fact that said hand didn't loosen, even with Eddie punching and slamming at the supporting arm. Uncaring of all of this, Issei hissed on.

" _Now, if I don't get this job because of you two bozos, I'm going from annoyed straight to pissed, and the difference between annoyed and pissed is a back-alley vasectomy performed with a rusty spoon. Capisce?_ "

Eddie, almost fully blue in the face, nodded as much as he could in the situation that he was in. He felt himself slowly drifting off, the shadows in the corners of his eyes growing... Until he was suddenly and uncerimoniously released.

"Great!"

Taking massive gulps of air, Eddie could only stare in a mixture of incredulity and fear at the terrifying brat that had been strangling him just a second ago, the sudden emotional swing stunning him, and everyone else in the bar to the point that all noise ceased for a moment.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The silence was broken by Andre's laughter, before he placed a hand on Issei's shoulder and spoke in a friendly tone.

"You've got yourself a job, kid. Welcome to 'The Hammered Dwarf', where the booze flows flee, and the patrons are apparently terrified of a teen! Hahahahahaha!"

And just like that, Issei found himself a job.

 _ **-Chapter, End-**_


	18. My mundane daily life as a Dragon

**Still here! And with the speedy update, too! Making the best of my time while inspiration decides to not abandon me.**

 **As said before, I have recently opened a Pat reon for myself, and if you wish to check it you, you just need to go to "Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz" . Visiting my Pat reon is fully optional, so keep that in mind.**

 **Now, onwards to the story!**

 _ **-x-**_

"-...And then I said 'You're very absent-minded', and smashed a bottle of Absinthe over his head!"

"And how'd that work out?"

"...Lowered affinity score. Apparently it was too 'brutish'."

Issei nodded at the sullen Motohama's words, before speaking up with a particularly wise and sagely tone.

"That's your problem, Motohama, you're too impulsive! When you're going for a particular route, you need to know the personality of the girl you're pursuing, and what she likes and dislikes. You need to take all of these things into consideration before acting."

Matsuda spoke up after that, as if he had achieved a revelation.

"So THAT is how you get a girlfriend, huh..."

Issei snorted at that, slashing his arms through the air before speaking up.

"That is what to do if you don't mind being unhappy for the entire relationship.

"In real life, things are different. There are no 'routes', and while trying to genuinely improve yourself is fine and proper, trying to forcibly change yourself just for a girl who doesn't like the basic form of your 'true self' is a recipe for disaster.

"You'll end up miserable because you can't be yourself, she'll end up miserable because you're never genuine with her, and it'll be a great big mess."

While Aika wrote all of this down in a frenetic pace, a smirk on her face as she did, Motohama and Matsuda stared at Issei with eyes wide in surprise and admiration.

"Issei" Matsuda breathed out "When did you become so wise?"

"I think it was after my third playthrough of 'Soaring, Flying, Miko-chan'. Some of the routes there are real mindscrews, I'll tell you that. I also learned that if you think there are tentacles involved, you burn it with fire.

"Always."

Isseis haunted tone as he said the last thing caused Motohama and Matsuda to gulp in trepidation, while Aika tried not to chortle as she kept writing, though her cheeks tinted perversely at the thoughts elicited by his words.

" _Ufufufufufu~_ "

A... _very_ particular laugh attracted the attention of the four individuals sat underneath a tree in the middle of the courtyard, causing their gazes to move towards the source, revealing it to be...

"HIMEJIMA AKENO, ONE OF THE GREAT ONEE-SANS OF KUOH!"

"HIMEJIMA AKENO, ONE OF THE GREAT ONEE-SAMAS OF KUOH!"

Akeno chuckled lightly at the simultaneous shouts from the bald young man, and the glasses-wearing young man, her Yamato Nadeshiko turned up to 11 as she placed her gaze on Issei, one of her sleeves covering her small smile as she spoke.

"You know, most people would be too ashamed of discussing these sorts of matters publicly..."

Snorting at this sentence, Issei sat up straight, his arms crossed over his chest and his face bearing a wizened look as he spoke with finality.

"Shame is for those who care about the opinions of strangers. Self-assumed perverts like us are life forms who have overcome the need to get pats on the back by absolute strangers, and focus instead on doing what we love."

" _Oh man, this thing just keeps writing itself!_ "

Issei seemed to be perfectly content in ignoring Aika's snickers and constant writings, as were Motohama and Matsuda, but Akeno's curiosity got the better of her.

"Ever since the start of the year, I don't think I've ever seen you bereft of your writing utensils, miss Kiryu. It leaves one quite curious about what you might be writing."

Understanding the unasked question and not really seeing a problem with curiosity, Aika shrugged before reaching into her bag and removing a small notebook ( _No way she was giving anyone her raw research notes_ ), before handing it to Akeno.

The black-haired Queen of the Gremory peerage took the offered notebook with two hands, nodding thankfully at the bespectacled girl. She curiously cracked the hardcover notebook open at a random page, before she started reading aloud.

" ' _Yes, run! Run as fast and as far as you can, you fiends!_ ' _Sir Jossei the first forcefully called out to the defeated and retreating bandits._

 _'Black Dragon Gang, huh...' he snorted out contemptuously, before turning his attention back towards the wagon he had been tasked with protecting. Unfortunately, both the wagon's teamster and one of the two horses had fallen to the crudely sharpened steel that passed as a sword for the fiendish bandits, ensuring that the merchandise that he had been transporting stay paralyzed and undelivered._

 _Being an honorable knight, however, Sir Jossei decided to check inside the wagon, to see if there was something at least that he could personally deliver to the estate of his employer._

 _He parted the cloth coverings of the wagon, only for the sight that greeted him to surprise him greatly._

 _'Sebastian? Have we arrived already?'_

 _The sweet, dulcet tone that filled both his ears and his heart came from a lady of unparalleled beauty. Her tresses were of a deep black in color, like a raven's feather, and as soft as spun silk. Her skin was pale and flawless, like the freshest of the fallen snow, her eyes blue, like a cloudless, open sky in a sunny day, her nose small and straight, and her mouth a cupid's bow._

 _'Oh, thou art not Sebastian... Whom might thou be, good ser?'_

 _Ser Jossei Hyousson, one of the realm's mightiest knights, gifted with both ferocity and prowess, having singlehandedly broken the siege of the Blue Ridge keep and gaining the title of 'The Dragon' for his acts in the 30 crossings war, felt as if he were seeing the world for the first time._

 _It felt as if he had spent his entire life living under water, only to finally emerge and get a deep breath of air. The man who won a hundred battles, most honorable knight of all, loved by royalty and common folk both, finally believed that he found it._

 _His calling._

 _For years Jossei journeyed the world, involving himself in situations great and small both, becoming a knight, gaining wealth and fame, yet it was not in seeking those things that he did so. Everything Sir Jossei did, he had done in the endless search for purpose, the light behind the eyes of others, that he had never seen within his own._

 _A reason to be. To live._

 _And now, he had finally found his purpose. As soon as his eyes fell upon the lady he had been unknowingly escorting, he knew..._

 _'Milady!' sir Jossei said in a solemn tone, drawing his sword before going down to his knee for the lady, his sword held upon his open palms as if being offered._

 _'Today, and forevermore, I pledge myself to your service. My sword, my armor, my flesh and everything else, they are all yours to make use of as you wish, as I am now an instrument for your happiness.'_ "

Akeno closed the small novel before looking back up at Aika, an eyebrow raised as she spoke.

"I did not expect your writings to be... Like this."

Aika waved her hand dismissively at the looks from both Akeno and the three perverted sages, even as she answered.

"That's just the commercial version, a sappy romance novel marketed towards overly ideallistic young women, and bored, middle-aged housewives. Those are probably the only types of people who read 'turn myself into your instrument' and think it romantic, rather than weird at a best, and obsessive at worst."

Issei spoke up at that.

"A project for wealth, rather than for passion, huh... How mercenary of you, Aika! I love it!"

Issei's teasing smirk was met with Aika's smug one, as she responded while adjusting her glasses.

"Of course, there will be a different... Version... of said novel, aimed less towards...-"

"Normies!" Issei cut in helpfully, getting a nod from Aika.

"-That, and more towards people with different sets of... Interests. A true project of passion!"

Akeno's Yamato Nadeshiko visage slipped for an instant at that declaration, a legitimately amused smirk flashing on her face for an instant, which both Issei and Aika caught on to, yet shrugged off.

Seeing the potential in this, Issei leaned back into the tree before speaking.

"I know a guy that could have the finished product published for dirt cheap, if you accept a 50/50 split of the procceeds."

"Zero publishing costs? Deal!"

The two perverts shook on it, to Akeno's great amusement, and Motohama and Matsuda's disinterest, before Issei spoke up again.

"So, one of the Great Onee-samas of Kuoh hanging out with the Three Perverted Sages and the Perverted Secretary - horrible title by the way - of Kuoh. Whatever would your fans think?"

Feeling more relaxed than she did in the presence of anyone other than her King's peerage, Akeno allowed a slight bit of her sadism show in her response.

"I'm quite sure they're making some delightfuly chagrined faces, mhm? _Ufufufufufufu~_ "

The Gremory queen caught herself an instant later, stiffening up almost imperceptibly, eve as her thoughts raced.

' _I... I didn't even notice when I got comfortable enough to just slip up like this!_ '

Not wanting to run the chance of slipping any further on her persona, Akeno gingerly stood up from where she had sat on the grass, dusting off her skirt before assuming her Yamato Nadeshiko image again, placing her hands one atop the other one and in front of her body as she lightly bowed her head towards the group.

"Thank you for putting up with my intrusion in your private time."

Issei, the currently designated spokesperson of the group, gave Akeno a thumbs up as he answered.

"No problem! Feel free to hang around with us if you feel like it!"

The Gremory queen responded by nodding again before walking off, an almost unnoticeable added pep in her step.

While Motohama and Matsuda cried about hating to see her leave, but loving to watch her walk away, Issei spoke up.

"Interesting person."

Adjusting her glasses, Aika interjected.

"A habit of hiding, though."

Issei snorted at that, giving Aika a very knowing look that caused the girl to look away, a slight blush on her face. Seeing the smug look on the brunet's face, Aika decided that the best way to deal with her embarassment was to jump him, leading to the two of them wrestling around on the grass, which led to Motohama and Matsuda _somehow_ being dragged into the fight as well, and the four ultimately endind up sprawled underneath the shade of the tree, a few grass stains on their uniforms, and Aika, Motohama and Matsuda doing their best to catch their breath.

Unlike the other three, rather than gasping in order to regain his breath, Issei could only grin happily.

 _ **-x-**_

"Hey, you guys up for a study session at my place?"

" _Study Session?_ " came the simultaneous question in a suggestive tone from the other three, prompting Issei to snort before answering.

"Not _that_ type of studying, but legitimate 'open up a book' studying. I bust my ass off getting first place for entrance exams, no way am I going to just allow myself to fall to the average grade line, or below that.

"No. I'm gonna keep working hard to be at the top. So, what do you guys say?"

Motohama, Matsuda and Aika traded looks, before the three shrugged, with Aika answering for the three of them.

"Sure."

Nodding at that, Issei checked his watch before warning them.

"We can only go until 4:45 though, since I need to be at work at 5:15 max."

"Speaking of work-" Matsuda spoke up "-You haven't told us where your workplace is, or what it is you do there. What gives?"

A sweatdrop appearing at the back of his head, Issei spoke up.

"It'd be too much trouble explaining the specifics of my job, so I'd rather not."

The other three shrugged at that, unwilling to pry, before they headed towards Issei's home for some studying.

On the way to his home, Issei spotted a new construction site, with a large massive tarp covering what seemed to be a very wide building, and quite a few machines strewn around the place.

The four perverts looked at one another, before shrugging, none of them knowing anything about the site.

 _ **-x-**_

"Clean up on table 6!"

"On it!"

Issei moved around the rowdy patrons of table three, absentmindedly kicking a bottle towards Andre, who was behind the bar, with full accuracy - _With the old man making an impressive catch_ \- and walking up to table 6, wrinkling his nose at the situation.

"Jun, you lazy bum, haven't I told you to sleep at home before!?"

Jun, a very drunk patron and 'Usual' of the hammered dwarf, reacted to Issei's words by raising his head slightly from the table, his gaze meeting Issei's as he responded in a friendly tone.

"Oh come on, no need to be a buzzkill, Dragon-san! We're all friends here, are we not?"

His last few words had the result of causing the whole bar to raise their drinks, spilling more than just a bit all over the tables and ground, causing a massive tick mark to appear on Issei's forehead, his right eyebrow twitching even as his mouth spread into a noticeably forced grin, prompting the other, more sober bargoers to move away from the scene.

Even the other people seated around table 6 pushed themselves away from Jun and Issei, each of them finding something more interesting to look at elsewhere in the bar.

The only person in the bar not worried about Issei's mood was the too-drunk Jun, with everyone else having learnt better than to annoy Issei after 2 months of having to deal with the boy thrashing whole groups of grown men.

" _Jun-san_ -" the brunet - _with a single purple bang_ \- growled, finally causing the man's self-preservation instincts to overcome the power of inebriation and his gaze to nervously fall on the young man "- _What have I said about that nickname?_ "

"Err-, it's a term of endearment?"

Issei's response to the sheepish non-question, said in a questioning tone, was to slam his hand on the wooden table top, causing a few of the more unruly patrons to jump, his burning gaze causing them to all have flashbacks to whenever they were the ones subjected to said look, which inevitably resulted in pain and humiliation in equal amounts.

" _Why would I want some random drunk like you using terms of endearment with me?_ "

"Err... You wouldn't?"

Issei's eyes narrowed at that, causing copious amounts of sweat to run down the back of Jun's head and neck, only for the brunet to lean back and away from him, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"Just... Don't break the rules. If you wanna sleep, go home. Otherwise, make sure to pay for food, drinks, or be a worker here. Understand?"

The nervous client nodded so hard that his head almost popped off of his shoulders, before he handed Issei a 10.000 Yen not and spoke in a hesitant tone.

"Uh... A beer please, and keep the change."

Issei's demeanor instantly changed from annoyed to friendly, his right hand falling onto Jun's shoulder and his left hand making a thumbs up gesture, with sparkles floating around him as he spoke.

"Jun-san, you truly are one of the noblest, most valued patrons of this bar, you know!"

The other bar patrons had to look away from the glowing brunet lest they get blinded, while Andre chuckled from behind a pair of shades that weren't on his face a second before, before calling out loud.

"Fierce and ready to bite someone's head off until you catch sight of a gold piece... How do you expect not to be called a Dragon, kid?"

An eruption of laughter resounded within the bar at that, which was only renewed when the Hyoudou youth pouted childishly at Andre, before he dashed towards Daichi, who was cleaning the recently emptied tables, and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him as he spoke dramatically.

"Dai-san, your mean uncle and his friends are bullying me! They're saying I'm scary and greedy! Tell them it isn't true!"

Daichi floundered a bit at that, not very good at dealing with the spotlight, before giving Issei a slight, sheepish smile as he spoke.

"Well... You kind of are, Issei-senpai!"

Issei stumbled away from Daichi, raising a hand to his chest as if an arrow had hit his chest, while he whined.

"Daichi, you traitor! You're supposed to be on my side!"

The brunet smiled inwardly at Daichi's tiny, almost imperceptible smirk, before putting an end to his dramatic acting by heading to the bar counter to collect Jun's mug, causing the volume at the bar to go back to it's usual levels as the patrons immersed themselves in their own conversations.

Issei took the filled mug and placed it on a tray, but, before he could head back to Jun's table, he felt a hand on his wrist.

He looked back towards the source of the hand, which happened to be his boss, Andre, who gave him a look and a nod.

' _Thanks for helping with Daichi's confidence._ '

Issei responded with a slight smile and a nod.

' _My pleasure._ '

The small non-verbal conversation done, Issei took the beer to it's owner, before going back to his regular work.

The brunet looked down at his watch, seeing that it pointed to 5 mins to 8PM, which was the end of his shift. He headed towards the back room, taking off the Apron he wore as a uniform and hanging it onto one of the hooks.

"Shit!"

Issei blinked before looking towards the source of the cuss, which was Andre hanging the landline's speaker back onto it's vintage hook.

"What's wrong, boss?"

"Ginei's girlfriend just called, he got into an accident earlier today."

"Oh man! Is he alright?"

"Yeah, it wasn't anything life-threatening, luckily, but he broke his leg, so he can't come in today for the night shift."

"Oh, tough break, boss. How're you gonna deal with this?"

"...Kid, I know this is beyond your usual work time, but would you mind working the night shift? I can't have a minor working behind the counter, and none of my other workers are capable of keeping the order with these miscreants like the two of us can."

"I don't know, boss..."

"It'd help a lot, kid. Plus, I'd pay you double overtime."

Scratching the back of his head, Issei looked away as he answered.

"It's not about the money, boss. I'd like to help, but... My parents were already a bit leery about letting me work at a bar in the red light district.

"The only way I got my mom to agree with this in the first place was by swaying my dad to my side with assurances of safety and the amount of pay I'd get, and then teaming up against her with back massages and puppy dog eyes.

"Letting me work the night shift would be another thing altogether."

Andre sighed out loud, before answering.

"Are you sure you can't help? I mean, it's not as if today was a school night, it's friday! Can't we at least give it a shot?"

Sighing at that, Issei spoke up.

"Okay, I'll try, but don't get your hopes up."

"That's all I can ask for, kid."

Shrugging, Issei picked the phone up from the hook and dialed his home number, tapping his fingers onto his arm as it rung.

" _Hyoudou Residence, Gorou speaking!_ "

"Hey dad, it's me, Issei!"

" _Issei? why're you calling at this time? You're not in trouble, are you? Do you need me to pick you up somewhere? Do yo-_ "

"Relax, dad, I'm fine! I just called to ask for an extended curfew for the day. One of the night shift workers broke his leg, and the boss wants me to help cover for him."

" _...How safe do you think it'd be for you to stay there for the night shift? And I want you to say the truth, not what you think I want to hear, otherwise that's a straight up 'No'._ "

"I'm about as safe working a night shift here as I am at school, dad. Between me being able to take care of myself, and being friends with many... Interesting people... I can move around with a great degree of safety."

" _Okay, and is the pay worth the extra work? You may like your boss and all, but you need to make it clear that you won't work for anything less than what you're owed, and that you're not one to just be explored._ "

"I'm being paid double overtime."

" _...Okay, if you're that sure it's safe and worth it to stay there late, then you can consider your curfew extended for weekends. I'll smooth things over with Mama Bear over here. But make sure that you're 100% safe!_ "

"Thanks, dad! Love you!"

" _Love you too, kiddo._ "

Hanging up after that, Issei smiled at Andre as he lifted his apron out of the hook he had hanged it onto.

"I can work the night shift at fridays and saturdays, if needed."

"Thanks for the cover, kid."

"No problem. Plus, I'm being paid to lay the smackdown on a few unruly folks, with tips!"

Andre chuckled lightly at that, before speaking.

"What would Daichi think if he knew his 'Issei-senpai' was like this? He really admires you, y'know?"

"...He admires me?"

Seeing the trepidation on Issei's face, Andre waved him off before answering.

"Not like that, kid, he's into chicks. No, ever since you've saved him he's been looking at you as a role model. It's a good thing too, since maybe it will finally teach him to be a bit more decisive about things, and to put his foot down.

"He's a good kid, calm and kind, never really making trouble, but... He's a bit of a pushover. I tried helping him raising his self-esteem a bit to fight againts this trait of his, but I haven't had much success.

"But ever since you've showed up, I've seen him better than ever. He's less tense, more relaxed; he smiles more, and it seems as if his usual tormentors have given up on going after him altogether.

"He all but sees you as an older brother by now."

Issei simultaneously blushed and preened at the flow of complements going his way, before speaking up.

"Well, if I'm his older brother, then I guess it's sort of my responsibility to help him be the best he can be as well."

"That's great and all, but don't forget that we're supposed to be working right now. We've already been gone for quite a while, and I want to make sure that my bar's still standing by the end of the night."

With those words, the two went back into the bar proper, ready for more work.

 _ **-x-**_

"Oh man, that Pop Quiz was brutal!"

"Tell me about it!"

"My mom's gonna shout my ear off..."

Complaints were uttered by the majority of class 1-A, who were utterly surprised by a biology pop quiz. Few students weren't complaining about it, secure in the fact that they managed to get themselves a good grade. Of these few students, The Perverted Sage trio and the Perverted Novelist ( _Upgraded title jokingly given to her by Akeno, that ended up sticking_ ) were the only ones _fully_ relaxed, and that showed in the easy flow of conversation between them at lunch time.

"I'm telling you, Nuperman could totally beat Moku!"

"Nu-uh! Moku would totally beat Nuperman's butt! Back me up on this, Issei!"

Motohama and Matsuda turned towards Issei, only to find him sat next to Aika, a paperback novel in hands, as the girl pointed at specific parts with a pen.

"See, this is the part that I was talking about."

"Mhm... Pretty good, but maybe if she used the chicken instead..."

"Yeah... Yeah, I can see it in my mind. Pretty good eye, _Dragon-san_."

Issei groaned aloud at that, ignoring the way that his friends snickered and chuckled at his annoyance.

" _Ara Ara~_ "

Those two words, for whatever reason, caused a chill to go down Issei's spine, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck as he woodenly turned towards the speaker, one Himejima Akeno, who had made it a habit to sporadically sit down with the four of them during lunch, often taking the time to check out the latest additions to Aika's 'commercial' novel.

"For people who've seemingly had a pop quiz from hell just a few minutes ago, the four of you look very relaxed."

Motohama snorted at that, while Matsuda responded.

"With how often we've been to Issei's for a study session, there is no real way for us to get caught by surprise by a pop quiz. He's a real slave driver, he is."

Akeno gave Issei a pleasantly surprised look, prompting the brunet to shrug before answering.

"All of us have smarts, even Matsuda, so it'd be a shame not to make full use of them."

The other three nodded along with Issei's sentence, before Matsuda cried out with mild indignation.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Issei blithely ignored the baldie, causing him to sputter and groan, while prompting the others present to laugh. Even Akeno found herself covering her mouth and chuckling.

Getting her chuckles back under control, Akeno spoke.

"To be quite honest, I didn't see you as the type of people to study other than for tests you already know about."

Issei shrugged before answering.

"At least you're honest about it, without being a total cun-err, 'Unpleasant person'."

Akeno smirked at Issei as she spoke.

"What were you just about to say?"

"N-nevermind that!" Issei gulped, his mouth saying the first thing it could in order to redirect the conversation "Hey, senpai, I couldn't help but notice you have a massive rack!"

While Motohama and Matsuda could only gape at him, stunned at how forward his words were, and Aika hurriedly retrieved her research notes, Akeno reacted by, once again, chuckling. A teasing glint in her eyes, she spoke.

"They _are_ quite sizable." she placed both hands underneath her breasts and hefted them up, causing Motohama to start hyperventilating, and Matsuda to fall over backwards, a nosebleed squirting out of his nose. "Very hefty, too."

Issei stared at Akeno's chest with a hungry look, his fingers moving in a disturbingly limber manner that revealed his double-jointedness, a line of drool going down his chin as he spoke in a half-babble, half-growl.

"T- _those look pretty heavy, Senpai. Want me to help lighten your load?_ "

" _Ufufufufu_ , how forward of you, Hyoudou-san~"

"A man has to be decisive over whatever it is he loves!"

Chuckling softly, Akeno's eyes seemed to be looking somewhere far beyond Issei as she spoke.

"He has to, doesn't he?"

Having said that, Akeno stood back up, dusting herself off as usual, before bowing her head towards the friendly group of perverts.

"Hyoudou-san, you are a breath of fresh air."

Having said that, Akeno pensively walked away, prompting Issei and Aika to exchange looks, before the girl spoke up.

"What was that about?"

"Hell if I know."

The bell rung shortly after that, causing all of the students to flood back into their classrooms.

 _ **-x-**_

"So, there we were, guys all around us, when Shin says something like ' _With the amount of assholes around I feel like I'm in a porn studio_ '."

"He didn't!"

"He did! And then he punched the guy closest to him, causing the whole thing to explode! I watched Miri kneecap a guy with a lead pipe before performing the most brutal groinstomp I've ever seen to date, that was when I knew it was time for me to get her a ring.

"By the end of the whole shebang, we were all but dryhumping each other right there, on top of the other dudes."

Issei chuckled lightly at Kensuke, one of the local bosses', story.

"I'd really thnk that watching the most impressive groinstomp ever would make you want to avoid a woman, moreso than marry her!"

Miri waved her hand dismissively at Issei's words, even as she spoke up.

"Pish posh. This-" she punctuated by grabbing hold of Kensuke's crotch in a move that surprised him as much as it did Issei "-is one of my favorite parts, on one of my favorite people in the world. Do you really think that I'd think of ever damaging it like that?"

Kensuke blushed at that, while the rest of the people sat at the table laughed racuously, with Issei chuckling lightly as he placed a cup of tea in front of Miri.

As the noise went down, a random voice drifted into the group's conversation.

"What if he was cheating on you and you found out, or something like that?"

"In that case" Miri spoke in a dangerous tone "I'd tie him down to our bed, pump him full of energy drinks, and give him such a wild ride that his companion would only ever get up to the sight of my body."

Kensuke blushed further at that, while the rest of the bar hooted and hollered.

As soon as the noise went down, Miri spoke up again.

"And what about you, _Dragon-kun_ , how's the romantic life of such a handsome young man going?"

"It's... Complicated. Very, _very_ complicated."

Smirking, Miri spoke in a conspiratorial tone.

"A regular heartbreaker, huh?"

The brunette responded by shaking his head.

"Not at all. How to explain best..."

He set the tray down and sat down at the table, like any other patron, rubbing his chin for a while, before speaking up.

"I have a very ambitious Harem plan."

Before Miri or anyone else could break in, he kept talking.

"It's been my dream ever since I was seven, and... I recently took the first few steps towards said goal. I already have harem members. However, they're far away from me, unfortunately, and I don't know when I'll have to time to get together with them again.

"Other than that, there's the fact that there are very few women in this town that I'd actually consider to be girlfriend-material, and none of them seem to be ready to get into relationships at the moment.

"Other than that, there's the fact that two of them are so popular that me getting into relationships with either of them would result in resentment from fanboys and fangirls, and, while it wouldn't be a _real_ problem, it'd still be annoying nonetheless.

"So, yeah. That's pretty much my story. And before you try to rip off my head, each of my current girlfriends know one another, know _of_ one-another, are _close_ to one-another, and are all on board with the Harem plan."

Miri, who had been building up a head of steam and bordering on an explosion, deflated completely at Issei's last words, while the rest of the bar seemed to be empty of even crickets, due to the sheer absence of noise within it. Then, the silence was broken by Jun.

"How much for your cologne?"

Everyone else in the bar could only groan in response.

 _ **-x-**_

Motohama, Matsuda and Aika found themselves unable to advance due to a massive congregation of students.

Aika looked at Matsuda, before asking.

"What the hell is going on? Is there some event that I wasn't told about?"

Shrugging, the baldie responded.

"If you weren't told about, then neither was I. Usually all of these people are all but sprinting at this time, trying to get away from the school the instant the last bell rings."

The two looked at Motohama, only for him to shrug at them.

"Hey, what gives? Is there some event happening or something?"

The three looked towards the speaker, Issei, who had stayed back for a few minutes in order to have a small talk with one of their teachers, and gave him three simultaneous shrugs as answers.

Cracking his neck, the brunet spoke.

"Okay, I guess I'll have to open up a path." He drew himself up to his full height, shoulders squared and feet set. "Oh, by the way, cover your ears and get out of the way."

The three did so with no hesitation, clapping their hands to their ears and placing themselves to the sides and slightly behind Issei, watching as he cracked his neck, took in a deep breath...

" **GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY, ASSHOLES!** "

And _roared_ so loud that everyone directly in front of him reflexively jumped out of his path, their ears ringing.

When the crowd split, rather than looking smug, apathetic or just normal, Issei looked gobsmacked.

Shitori Souna, Shinra Tsubaki, Gremory Rias and Himejima Akeno were all reunited and standing in front of the school's gates, but that wasn't what stunned him, no.

"Lilith?"

Yes. Right there, talking to the neutral-looking student council members, and the tense-looking Occult Research Club members, in all of her 5'1", 111 pound, purple-haired glory, was Issei's first... _Everything_ non-platonic, the heiress of the royal family of Luxuria and the girl that had taken Issei's first time, Lilith Lilim.

Lilith turned as soon as she heard a certain familiar voice, her face blooming into a massive smile at the sight of her boyfriend, before she sprinted down the parted students, bodily jumping onto Issei, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

Giving no-one the time to say a single thing, she slammed her lips to Issei's her tongue all but plundering his mouth. Issei did not take long to reciprocate, his hands going down to hold her body up by her buttcheeks as his own tongue pushed Lilith's tongue back, the two tangling with one-another in an extremely pornographic display that had many shocked stiff, Matsuda streaming blood down his nose, Motohama's glasses fogging up, and Aika breathing heavily, her face flushed as she frenetically wrote on her notepad.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

Rias' shout brought the two lovers back to the present, allowing them to unlatch from each other's face, before Issei turned towards his friends and spoke up in an absent-minded tone.

"Guys, this is my girlfriend, Lilith. The one I met during my vacation."

A massive, surprised silence encompassed the entire courtyard. Said silence was, then, broken by Matsuda.

"Dude... What the fuck happened to you during the break?"

 _ **-Chapter, END!-**_


	19. Deal with the devil

_**Well wot's all this then? You have a fanfiction-readin' loicense?**_

 **So, you're probably asking yourselves for the reason of the delay in the update, when I had picked up a good pace already, no? Well, my classes have restarted, and more intense than before, so I'll generally be relegated to writing on weekends unless I get some sort of break or Holiday.**

 **It's the weekend at the moment, so I'm typing right now, though I'm not sure if I'll manage to finish the chapter and upload it on the same day which I started it on.**

 **Despite all of this, I'll still try to do my best in updating as much as I can.**

 **With that all of the way, I would like to thank Jarod, Joshua Garrett and Michael Ifidon for their support and donations.**

 **If you wish to support me via donation as well, you can easily do so at "Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz" or "subscribestar -dot- com -slash- francogamerxz" . Other than that, I appreciate reader feedback of all sorts, so don't be shy with the reviews and PM's!**

 **Now, onwards to the story!**

* * *

To say that there was tension in the air at the moment would be akin to saying that the ocean is a bit wet.

A massive understatement.

Issei and Lilith had been escorted into the student council room after Rias' demanding shouts, when Sona reminded her that discretion was the better part of valor, and that certain things were to be dealt with in a private setting.

This had culminated in bemused Issei sat on a stuffed armchair, his arms wrapped around the waist of Lilith, who had contented herself with plopping straight on top of his lap with a happy smile, while Sona, Rias and their respective underlings were spread out around the room.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Rias spoke up in a civil, yet cool tone of voice.

"Lilith-san, while I apologize for the tone I took when addressing you earlier, I must still respectfully demand clarification. Certain..." Here, Rias' gaze moved slightly towards Issei, before returning to Lilith "... _agreements_ were made, and what I've witnessed of your behavior so far seems to be in contravenence of such agreements."

While Issei tilted his head curiously at that, his eyes moving towards a smiling Akeno and being met with a small shrug, Lilith rolled her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest as she spoke.

"I have not, at any moment, broken any of the terms of the currently standing agreement between our families."

Rias visibly bristled at the dismissive response, drawing herself up angrily for a response, only to be cut off by Sona's cool tone.

"Perhaps a few cold beverages would help us mantain the cool heads required for a discussion of this sort?"

Akeno preempted the likely response from the Sitri queen by taking a step forward and bowing lightly, a demure smile on her face as she spoke.

"I'll fetch us some refreshments, however I shall need some help in bringing in the amount required for the number of people present. Hyoudou-san, would you mind accompanying me and lending me your strength?"

The brunet raised an eyebrow at Akeno's words, before looking at his girlfriend. Seeing her amused look and feeling her placing her hands atop his own, giving him a mild squeeze before releasing, the brunet shrugged before effortlessly lifting her off of his lap by the waist, surprising many in the room with the ease and lack of strain involved in the act, placing her on his seat after he had removed himself from it.

Giving Sona a raised eyebrow and receiving an inscrutable look in return, Issei shrugged before following after Akeno as she left the room, softly closing the door behind himself.

* * *

"Hey Akeno..."

The black-haired fallen/devil hybrid turned towards Issei, prompting him to continue.

"Why did your club president look like she wanted to strangle my girlfriend with her bare hands?"

Rather than respond to the question, Akeno's eyes narrowed, her tone turning sharper as she spoke.

"For someone who noticed that, you seem to have left her with remarkable ease."

The brunet snorted at that, waving his hand dismissively as he responded.

"Aside from the fact that Lilith is a big girl capable of taking care of herself, I trust Souna-senpai to make sure that tempers remain reined in and for cooler heads to prevail. Plus, despite the fact that your boss seemed to be really really annoyed at her, she didn't make any move to actually physically attack my girlfriend, otherwise I'd already have taken action."

While she was somewhat mollified by the fact that he hadn't just thoughtlessly left his girlfriend behind helplessly in the middle of possibly hostile territory, Akeno's curiosity and her loyalty to her King prompted her to speak.

"Say, Issei... What do you mean by 'taking action' ?"

"Well, it depends on the way that events occur, really, but punches were very likely to make an appearance, as would kicks. Maybe throw Shitori-san's desk out the window or something."

Akeno gave the brunet an amused look, her tone light as she responded.

"I'm not quite sure Souna-san would appreciate that."

"Oh, I know. I just want to see her emote properly, rather than mantaining that constant 'stoic leader' face on."

Akeno's amusement was almost palpable at that moment, her eyes shining brightly as she responded.

"Basically, you want to tease her until she gets too frustrated to hide it?"

"Bingo."

The girl added another tally to her mental list of reasons to keep an eye on Issei, their conversation stopping as they reached a vending machine.

* * *

The mood within the student council room was very much different. While they had stayed silent for a while after Issei had left the room, as soon as Tsubaki had confirmed that she sensed Issei and Akeno to be outside listening range, Rias tore into the succubus.

"One of the stipulations for the agreement was that Kuoh's civillian populace would not be unduly inconvenienced by supernatural activity beyond the norm!"

"I am aware of that," Lilith said in a bored tone "though I still can't see why you seem like you're just a step away from ripping my throat out with your teeth."

Straightening her back, Rias managed to recover some of her composure before Sona felt herself forced to intervene again. Having managed to get her footing back, so to speak, Rias spoke up.

"Your enthralling of Hyoudou-san, _a civillian_ , could very well be considered a breakage of the terms agreed upon by the Devil leadership in response to your faction's proposal. Just because he is not seen favorably by the individuals within our academy, does not mean that I will not do my best to protect him from the dangers of the supernatural.

"He is, after all, an inhabitant of _my_ town."

Sona focused her gaze upon Rias, equal parts pleasantly surprised and annoyed. On one hand, Rias was willing to fight to protect Issei, despite the fact that she couldn't help but draw parallels between him and the person she detested the most, which tilted her personal opinion of the young man.

On the other hand, she spoke of Kuoh as if she were the sole individual responsible for ensuring it's orderly functioning in spite of any supernatural activity. Despite being more than just a bit annoyed about this, Sona decided to allow it to slide as nothing more than a lapse of judgement of Rias', while she turned her gaze back to the oddly amused succubus.

Lilith, for her part, saw herself barely capable of holding back the deep laugh that wished to bubble forth from her chest, though she couldn't really supress her smirk, nor the amused gleam in her eyes.

' _They think that Issei is a civillian? They think that I enthralled him? Oh my my my, how amusing! They act like the owners and protectors of the town, but they don't even know they have a fox in the chicken coop!... Well, a Dragon in the chicken coop would be more correct. Still, if Ise hasn't outted himself as the true 'Final Boss' of Kuoh, then who am I to do so?_ '

She leaned back into her seat, crossing her legs over one another while her gaze fell onto her fingernails, her act purposefuly tailored to further aggravate the redheaded girl.

"Well, what you said would indeed constitute a breakage of the previously agreed upon terms, however..."

Lilith met Rias' gaze, her face spreading into an amused smirk, before she spoke.

"That is not the truth of the events."

Lilith relished the look of annoyance on Rias' face, finding it a fair punishment for having tried to order her and her boyfriend around earlier that day, however, before things could escalate further, Sona spoke up.

"Would you explain to us the full situation then, so that we can stop jumping to conclusions-" Sona's gaze was Rias as she said that, before it returned to Lilith "-please?"

"Well, since you said _please_ ~" the succubus said airily, holding back a snicker when Rias all but growled at her "Issei and I met at Amsterdam, before the start of the current school year. He was vacationing there, and we met completely at random.

"A... _difficult_ individual decided to target me for my looks, but Issei saved me from him, getting beat up in the process. I stuck around him until he was alright, but then we decided to spend more time together.

"After getting to know each other better, and after a few difficult situations, we ended up getting together."

Giving her an incredulous look, Rias spoke.

"That's it? That's the story you're going to give us? No charms, mind magics or thralls?"

The purplette rolled her eyes before speaking up in a bored tone.

"Yes, that's the _story_ I'm giving you, because that is what happened. The only charms I used on Issei were my riveting personality and stunning good looks."

Scoffing, Rias crossed her arms before responding.

"You're saying that you didn't have him under the effects of your mind magics at one moment or another?"

While most people in her position would either lie or fudge the truth, Lilith was honest and shameless with the truth.

"No, I did not, and it was not due to a lack of trying. In our first few meetings I tried to get to him, to make sure that he gave me what I wanted from him, yet he managed to knock aside my influence via raw willpower, before flipping me onto a bed and threatening me with a sharp weapon.

"I think that was about the time my interest deepened into a crush, actually."

The two Kings blinked owlishly at that, before Sona cleared her throat and spoke up, ignoring the pinkette's words, spoken in a tone much too affectionate for the situation she described.

"I... see... is there some way to confirm your words? I don't wish to cast aspersions upon your honesty or honor, but the safety of _our_ town and it's people are the priority, you see?"

Lilith raised her eyebrow at that, pleasantly surprised at the fact that at least one of the two 'heads' of Kuoh had her priorities on point. The redhead wasn't necessarily _bad_ , she did make mention of the safety of the town, however she displayed the tendency of hyperfocusing on things that should be secondary.

She didn't need her empathic abilities to tell her that her words were about 3/4 assertion of authority, and only 1/4 actual responsibility for the 'civillians'. Definitely not a bad person, but someone who would probably benefit from some added maturity, and/or a paradigm shift, making her someone perfect to needle and tease.

The other one, Sona Sitri, seemed to be much more level-headed and moderate, more focused on getting the full spread of the facts than in simply asserting her authority, yet not above ensuring that it was made known, as her last sentence and the redhead one's mild wince showed. Overall the easier to deal one as far as mundane matters go, yet the one that presented the highest risk of figuring out Issei's 'secret identity'.

Pushing aside her observation of the two devil heiresses, Lilith decided to finally stop needling Rias and deal with them seriously.

"Check the eyes. I'm sure you know about as well as I do that hypnosis and most other mind-based magics show in the eyes, sometimes it being the pupil constantly contracting and expanding for no reason, wavering, trembling, shaking or simply being unable to fully focus on a single thing.

"Just look at his eyes and check, that's common sense."

Sona's eyebrow twitched at the simple, yet overlooked, solution, while Rias turned her face away to hide the sheepish look that came over it. Before Lilith could comment on their reactions, Issei and Akeno's voices drifted in from the corridor.

"...And then I picked him up by the top of his pants and tossed him out an open window!"

" _Ufufufufufu~_ , such a fun place you seem to work at, Hyoudou-san."

"Sure it is... Until you have to deal with drunken, crowbar-toting Yakuza."

"You have to deal with armed Yakuza?"

"Well yeah, but they're just an annoyance, really. Beat the crap out of them enough times and they start respecting you enough to not make trouble. Actually, that's pretty much the standard clientele of the place."

"Do you have to deal with violence often?"

"Not as often as it did when I first started, but we still get the occasional 'untrained puppy' that I have to... _housebreak_... every once in a while."

" _Ufufufufu~, how delightful~_ "

"Uh, Akeno-chan... You're starting to scare me..."

The door into the student council room opened, admitting a bag-carrying Issei trying to inch away from a creepily chuckling Akeno, before Lilith's voice cut in in a tone as amused as the look she gave her boyfriend.

"Akeno- _chan_?"

Issei shrugged, answering as he handed out canned juices.

"We're friends, and friends are familiar with one another. In fact, she's already offered to let me feel her breasts."

Rias' spit take at that ended with a surprised Issei covered in juice, a slightly wide eyed Sona, with the rest of her peerage showing varying levels of surprise, Yuuto smiling just as placidly as ever, and Lilith visibly trying to hold back her amusement.

Issei wiped some of the juice from his eyes, a grimace on his face as spoke.

"Apple Juice. Why did it have to be apples?"

Akeno passed Issei a small towel to wipe himself with, speaking in an amused tone.

"What's your problem with apples?"

"They're an offense to the good name of all things fruit, and a disgusting abomination that must be destroyed for the good of humanity."

Issei's utterly serious response resulted in a deep silence within the Student council room, a breeze crossing past the reunited people.

"Well..." Sona said, finally having recomposed herself "we can procceed with the... examination... now, no?"

Lilith shrugged at that, before speaking up.

"Ise, could you please look into the eyes of miss Student Council President, please?"

"Why?" the brunet asked in a curious tone, before his eyes widened to the extreme. He nodded to himself as if he had reached an incontrovertible realization, smacking his fist into his hand as he spoke.

"She fell in love with me and asked for a chance to look at me from up close!"

The majority of people in the room were gobsmacked, and their faces reflected that, while Sona choked on air, and Akeno giggled into her hand, extremely amused at this.

Lilith's face changed, her mouth stretching into a grin much too large to be comfortable - especially for Sona - as she placed both hands on Issei's shoulders, her tone earnest as she spoke.

"That is absolutely correct, Issei! Kaichou-san here asked me for an opportunity to look into the depths of your eyes, all on her own. Now go and give the lady a good look at the peepers, hun!"

"Hai, hai!" the brunet said with a mock military salute before spinning on his heel towards Sona in an extremely sudden movement, his face spread into a smile that belonged in a shoujo manga with sparkles and everything surrounding him.

He took measured, graceful strides towards Sona, walking around her large desk and standing next to her. He softly spun the girl's chair until she was looking at his chest, her face still frozen in surprise, before kneeling so that their gazes were on the same level, taking her right hand between his.

His smile became even shoujo-er, a deep purple background with blooming roses materializing behind him - _in the imagination of those watching_ \- alongside the sparkles that surrounded him becoming even more proeminent.

" _My Lady~_ " he spoke in English, causing the jaws of those watching to fall further, while Sona's face tinted a delightful shade of red, her glasses fogging up lightly " _If you ever wish to look at my eyes, feel not the need to justify yourself, or ask others, but come to me directly._ "

One of his hands moved away from Sona's, heading towards her face in a motion that seemed to leave in on course with her cheek, as he kept talking.

" _All that I ask in exchange is that I get the same privilege from you, to look at your beautiful eyes directly, with no obstacles-_ " he said that while reaching for her glasses. His thumb and index took hold of one of it's arms, softly and almost tenderly removing them from her face, before he approached further, leaving the two of them nose-to-nose " _-and as closely and clearly as possible~_ "

The only reason the girl wasn't babbling something was due to the fact that her brain had shut down all non-essential functions at the moment, leaving her as little more than a blushing shell. Her brain managed a soft reboot shortly after, though it resulted in her sputtering and letting out a high-pitched keening noise at Issei.

The brunet, finally noticing Sona's state, jumped back to his feet and pointed a finger at the girl, his tone intense as he spoke.

"I have decided! Shitori Souna, one day I will come for you, to conquer your heart! Mark my words!"

He procceeded to dash towards Lilith, picking her up under his arm, and then dashing out of the student council room, his shout of " _TEMPORARY RETREAT TO ASSESS SEDUCTION METHODS_!" still reaching the people within.

The only person not frozen in place or utterly stupefied was Akeno, whose coughs sounded suspiciously like laughter.

* * *

"Okay, Lilith, now that we're away from them... Mind telling me what's going on?"

"You noticed." the purplette said with a knowing look, prompting Issei to shrug as he answered.

"Between the animosity they were showing you and the fact that the extra people in the room that just stood and watched placed themselves in a way that covered all of the room's possible exits, it was impossible for me not to notice something was fishy.

"So, what was that meeting about?"

"We were discussing the conditions of me being here in Kuoh, due to a deal between mother and their families."

Issei tilted his head curiously, before responding.

"So, the two of them are some sort of important rich people? Probably in government or something, and connected to the supernatural in one way or another..."

Lilith stopped at that, staring at the mumbling brunet with a single thought running within her mind.

"You don't know."

Seeing that his attention turned back to her, Lilith looked around to ensure that the two of them were alone, before whispering.

" _You don't know that those people were Devils_?"

Issei's eyes widened at that, before narrowing.

"I could feel some sort of vibe from Akeno, who was the one I spent the most time around, and a little bit on Souna and Tsubaki, on the few occasions I actually meet with them, but to think that they were devils..."

"How could you not notice? Our lust-based sensory abilities would highlight beings such as Devils more so than they would other supernatural beings in their majority, due to the fact that they hold some of the closest similarities to succubi in terms of charm and seduction.

"Even if you didn't figure out 'Devil', you should at least pick up 'supernatural' !"

"Lilith, I've had the majority of my sensory abilities switched off ever since I reached Kuoh. It was picking up excessive amounts of information, so now I focus on using my physical senses more. Unless someone told me or I caught them doing something Devil-y, then I would've likely gone on unaware of it."

"It's not just them being Devils that is important, there's more. I'd rather talk somewhere more private than the corridors of your school, though, so..."

"Fine, let's find a quiet place to stay at."

* * *

"Mother, I want you to meet someone..."

Mama Hyoudou could only stare in surprise at the sight of Issei with a cute, purple-haired girl with a... _prodigious_ body standing next to Issei, her short 5'3 stature easily contrasting with Issei's own 5'9", and an open and friendly smile on her face as she bowed, before speaking up.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hyoudou. My name is Lilith Lilim, and I am Issei's first girlfriend."

That sentence seemed to glitch Mama Hyoudou's system for an instant, a myriad of tiny versions of herself running around the inside of her head, alternatively setting off rockets in celebration and screaming in panic at the unexpected occurence.

The two walked past the frozen woman, leaving their shoes behind at the entrance hall before making their way towards Issei's room.

Issei tossed his bag onto his computer chair, hopping onto his bed, while Lilith took the time to look over everything she could, her eyes wide in interest.

"Wow... So this is your room, Ise..."

The girl took a deep sniff, a half pleased, half lecherous smile on her face as she spoke.

"Smells like your love..."

"Yeah," the brunet said mildly, an amused smile on his face as he spoke "this is my very own fortress of self-love, if you catch my drift."

The widening of her smile into a smirk meant that Lilith understood completely, her fingers running through the grooves on Issei's desk as she spoke.

"So, where do you keep all of your... Self-love manuals?"

The brunet snorted at that, lying down in a position that allowed him to keep his eyes on Lilith as he answered.

"A thing as sacred as a man's stash can only be accessed under certain provisions, or with the correctly given sacrifice."

Lilith purred out a low " _Oh~_ " , which caused Issei's mouth to open into a smirk, as she continued.

"I'm sure we could work out a... _proper_ offering, couldn't we?"

The fact that she spoke while unbuttoning the top two buttons of her shirt had Issei growling at her, green flashing in his irises as he pictured the things that he would shortly be doing to Lilit-

"Refreshments!"

-Until his mother bustled into his room with a tray in hand, two steaming cups of tea on it.

"I brought you kids something to take care of your thirst."

She lowered the tray in front of Lilith, allowing the girl to take one of the cups with a grateful smile, before doing the same for Issei, whose face was contorted in an attempt at conveying gratefulness, though it could only be described as a grimace, as he spoke.

"Thanks a lot, mom. _Really._ "

Lilith chortled into her teacup at Issei's frustrated/sarcastic response, causing the boy to throw her a dirty look with no real heat in it, to which she responded by raising her cup in a salute.

"By the way, Issei" Mama Hyoudou began, before a menacing aura surrounded her, exaggerated shadows seemingly playing on her face and contorting her features despite the lack of a positional change or a change in lighting.

" _ **Please do remember to be corteous to visitors, and not act towards them in an untoward manner.**_ "

Issei blinked in surprise at the new facet of his mother's personality, barely managing to keep his expression even despite the fact that his mouth and eyes wished to do little more than open to it's utmost limits. Shaking off his surprise, he gave his mother a small nod of understanding, prompting her expression to return to her cheery self as if nothing had happened, the shadows previously around her face vanishing.

"Very good!"

Having given her warning, Mama Hyoudou left Issei's room, the door softly clicking closed behind her. Taking a sip of the tea and humming in appreciation about just how good it was, Lilith took a little time to collect her thoughts, before speaking up.

"Your mother is an... Interesting person, Ise."

"You're telling me..." the boy mumbled lightly, taking a sip of his tea before speaking up again "I've never really seen her like this before, so it's news for me. My dad probably knows, but if it's private between those two, then I don't really want to have anything to do with it."

"She makes good tea, though."

"Oh yeah, best tea ever."

"Would you mind if I hired her to be part of our cooking staff?"

"I don't really mind if she wanted to, though I doubt she would. Anything that takes away from her ability as a homemaker to keep her son and husband fed and moving is a big no-no in her book, so I doubt you'd have much luck."

"That's too bad, really..."

The brunet shrugged at that, focusing his hearing a bit only to hear his mother's heartbeat moving around the kitchen. Assured of their privacy, he decided to go for the serious matters.

"You said something about an agreement?"

Lilith nodded at that, moving Issei's bag from his chair to the desk itself, parking herself onto the comfortable, stuffed seat and rolling herself so that she was sat across from where issei had sat up on his bed.

"Mother decided to reconnect Luxuria to the world at large, however just doing it at once would be... Unadvisable. Instead, she desived a slow integration and trust building plan between our nation and the other factions.

"She started by making a proposal to the Devil faction to allow her to include the town of Kuoh, which is currently territory of 'Gremory' and 'Sitri'-"

"Wait, don't you mean Shitori?"

The succubus shook her head at that, her fragrant hair tickling Issei's nose, before answering.

"While the redhead mantained her name, your student council president took on a pseudonym. While the students of Kuoh know her as Shitori Souna, her real name is Sona Sitri, and she's the heiress of the Sitri family of devils, just as Rias Gremory is the heiress of the Gremory family.

"As I was saying, this territory is under their purview as far as the supernatural world is aware. Mother learned of Kuoh academy, the academy run by those two families, going co-ed, so she desived a plan.

"She crafted an agreement with the four satans that allow her to set up her own academy here in Kuoh, however this one will be all-girls, to capitalize on on quite a few of Kuoh's old clients that wished to keep their daughters, nieces and such separate from boys for the duration of their education.

"The purpose of this academy is to allow the various heiresses of different groups, clans and factions to network, resulting in the increased likelihood of future alliances. The devils accepted this proposal for a few reasons.

"One, it ensured that with the heiresses of various families together in the same town, any... 'difficult' elements of the world would be daunted by the possibility of having lots of different groups baying for their blood.

"Two, the institution of this academy came with a set of operating rules for supernatural individuals, primary amongst them being to not unduly inconvenience, target or victimize civillians and individuals unaware of the supernatural world without proper reason and without going overboard.

"And three, it places various different young ladies of importance strictly withing Devil territory. For the most part, we expect the young ladies enrolling under this program to be of privileged, higher breed, with noble blood and important families.

"With these young women here, their families would have to think twice, thrice, or however many times needed before trying to act against the Devil faction. This new school will act as a social tool to connect peaceful groups, while acting as deterrents for anyone not so peaceful.

"Of course, mother thought of the possibility as well, so in order to not turn any heiress into an instant hostage, enrolment in the academy has been allowed for mundane, non-supernatural young women as well.

"This forces the actual 'target audience' of this academy to keep their identities hidden, to ensure that the regular world doesn't learn of the supernatural one, which forces them to socialize and get to know one-another in anonimity, as if they were all regular people, rather than simply working the political angle at all times.

"The only reason I had to check in with the Kuoh girls is because mother delegated this task to me as part of my training for when I eventually take up the throne, otherwise those two would have no idea about me being a member of the supernatural."

Issei crossed his arms and legs, his eyes closed as he processed this massive information dump. His brow furrowed, Issei spoke up.

"Politics are hard."

Having said everything that he had to as far as that subject went, Issei decided to focus on more important things, such as leering lecherously at his girlfriend while releasing his Tantric Energy, causing the girl's eyes to gain a certain feral glint, her pink tongue slowly and sensuously gliding along her lips in a display that had Issei primed for action.

Issei reached out for the pinkette, his hand grasping her waist before he pulled her from the chair she had been sitting on, pulling her onto his body even as he lied back down onto his bed, their thighs pressed against the other's crotch.

Issei shifted his leg lightly, causing his thigh to rub against the crotch of Lilith's panties and forcing a whimper of pleasure out of her mouth, which caused the girl to start writhing, her own thigh grinding against Issei's erect member, causing him to grit his teeth in response to the stimuli.

The two started breathing heavily, their lips a hair's breadth from one another, before the door into his room was slammed wide open, prompting the two to jump to the opposite sides of the bed, while Issei's mother carried another tray into the room.

"I made cookies for you youngsters. After all, isn't it normal for a mother to make cookies for her teenaged, in school, 'not at all ready to be a father' son, and his equally teenaged, mostly unknown girlfriend?"

Both Issei and Lilith cringed at the pointed words spoken in a completely unconvincingly oblivious tone, as if she hadn't just been trying to impress onto them all of the reasons she believed they shouldn't 'get it on' for.

"I'll just leave the tray here."

She placed it down on top of Issei's desk before leaving his room, this time leaving the door wide open as she left.

Lilith chuckled lightly at that, a tint to her cheeks as she walked up to the baked goods and took two, tossing one of them at Issei who snatched it out of the air quick is a striking snake.

"Well, we should be expecting this, shouldn't we? Not all mothers are like my own, after all."

Issei grimaced at that thought, muttering a small ' _Thank god!_ ' before munching on his cookie. Lilith took a bite of her own cookie, chewing for a bit before swallowing. She placed the rest of the cookie back into the tray and turned towards Issei again, her face all business as she spoke.

"Are you sure your mother wouldn't work for us?"

* * *

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_

 **Okay, folks, this was a short one, but it was what I could do with how tightly packed my schedule is with college starting back up. I'll keep working to update as often as I can, but I can't really promise much more after that.**

 **Edits: It was pointed to me that I had Lilith as a pinkette in this chapter, despite the fact that her hair is purple. I went through correcting any allusions to her hair color for the correct one.**


	20. Can't match the Dragon!

_**Hello hello, folks! I put the nose to the grindstone to get this new chapter out!**_

 _ **Before that, though, I want to thank darkistorrik, Jarod, Joshua Garrett and Michael Ifidon for donating to me, your support is very much appreciated!**_

 _ **If you think that my material is good enough to warrant a donation, you can find me at "pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz" or "subscribestar -dot- com -slash- francogamerxz" .**_

 _ **With that out of the way, let us proceed.**_

* * *

4 AM.

After an almost sleepless night, Issei dragged himself out of bed as was habit, his body easlily shambling towards his dresser and picking out a red tracksuit with a yellow trim and purple accents for him to wear.

Yawning, he walked down the stairs two steps at a time, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge, grabbing the carton of milk from within it and a glass.

He poured himself one, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his mind reaching a higher level of operation with each passing minute.

Nowadays, while still difficult, waking up early wasn't as hard as it used to be, since he had a habit of picking up his missed hours of sleep at school, something which had upset the usual sleeping balance he had, yet left him fully operational, if only due to his various supernatural energies.

Still, Issei felt that waking up this early after so few hours of _consecutive_ sleep was a horrible thing for anyone to go through, and yet it was a burden that was his, and his alone...

You know what? No. And not just no, but Hell No!

Why did Issei have to suffer on his own? If he had to wake up this early every day for his physical upkeep, then other people could as well. And if they didn't want to...

Well, fuck you, I'm a Dragon.

With those thoughts in mind and a grin on his face, Issei left his home that morning, locking the door behind him.

* * *

" _If you scream I will punch you._ "

Motohama all but jerked awake when those words were whispered into his ear, and despite what had been said, his first response to having some indisctinct voice all but breathing words into his ear at an ungodly hour was to scream.

Well, he tried to, at least, but the owner of the voice had preempted his reaction and had wisely clamped a hand onto his mouth, suppressing his hysterical shri-err, manly bellows.

" _Dude, chill. I don't wanna wake up your parents, but it's what will happen if you keep making such a racket!_ "

Motohama's eyes widened at that, his struggles ceasing as his brain finally registered who the voice whispering to him belonged to. The owner of the voice, noticing that Motohama had calmed down, released his mouth.

Motohama reached for the glasses on his bedside table, putting them on and looking at his digital clock, before turning his gaze towards his brunet friend before speaking.

"Okay, I have a few questions. One, what are you doing in my room; two, what are you doing in my room at _4:15 in the morning_ ; and finally, _How the fuck did you manage to get into my bedroom at 4 in the morning without alerting my parents!?_ "

Issei, rummaging through Motohama's clothes and ignoring every single piece of clothing that his senses told him were 'tainted', answered in a nonchalant tone, like someone discussing the weather.

"In order of your questions, first, I'm in your room waking you up. Two, I'm in your room waking you up early because we have things to do at this time. And three, I picked the lock on your bedroom window and got in."

" _MY BEDROOM WINDOW IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR AND HAS IN INSIDE-ONLY LOCKING MECHANISM!_ "

Issei waved a careless hand in response.

"Details. Now, get your ass up and ready to go, since I have Matsuda waiting for us right outside."

Before Motohama could muster some sort of response, he was pelted with a long-sleeved sports jersey, a pair of track pants and two shoes to the head, before Issei, body halfway out the window, spoke.

"Get dressed and hydrated."

Having said that, the brunet hopped out of the window.

* * *

"Okay, I'm outside, now can you tell me what the hell- Matsuda? What happened to you?"

Motohama's tone, which had started out more than just a bit annoyed, trailed off into confusion as he spotted his bald friend sporting a black eye. Matsuda, for his part, turned his head towards Issei and shot him a dirty look, prompting him to shrug before responding.

"He screamed."

"I'm sure" Matsuda spoke drily "that you too would scream if you woke up at _4 in the goddamned morning_ ,only to find a stranger in your bedroom."

"If it makes you feel any better, Motohama sleeps in a pink 'Puri Puri Miyako-chan' onesie."

Matsuda turned towards Motohama with a shrewd look in his eye, before speaking.

"Where can I find one like those, and for how much?"

Before Motohama could respond, Issei broke in.

"We have time to take care of those things later on, boys. There're more important things we must deal with first."

"Those being?" came from Motohama.

Issei crouched and started stretching his legs, before speaking up.

"Our work-out menu, of course!"

The other two froze at that, before Matsuda spoke.

"Uh, Issei... We don't have a work-out menu."

"Well you do now, bitches! I'll be picking you up everyday at about this time, so your lazy asses can get some good running in!"

The other two stared at Issei for a few seconds, before Motohama turned around.

"I'm going back to sleep."

His body jerked as he choked on the collar of his jersey due to Issei yanking him backwards, before tossing him onto Matsuda.

"No, you're not. You're going running with me and Matsuda, and if you think you can get away from this, then too damn bad, buster!"

Motohama, getting back to his and rubbing at his throat, spoke up.

"You can't be for real, dude!"

Seeing Issei's unchanged expression, he turned towards Matsuda, expecting some support from the baldy, only to get a shrug in response, before Matsuda spoke up.

"To be honest... I've really missed the rush from having a good run. It's just one of those things that stick with you when you get used to them, y'know..."

The wistful look on Matsuda's face broke Motohama's resolve, prompting him to turn towards Issei, sighing before he spoke.

"Ok, fine, I'll do it."

Issei's response was to grin at him, a sense of ' _As if there was any other possibility?_ ' causing Motohama to scowl, though it had no real meaning behind it, before speaking.

"You may have won, but no need to be so smug about it."

* * *

" _Hah... Hah... Hah... You absolute monsters..._ "

Issei finished stretching before turning towards the downed Matsuda, who was lying on his back in a massive puddle of sweat. The glasses-wearing member of the Three Perverted Sages barely managed to raise a finger, pointing it towards the heavily breathing yet still standing Matsuda, and the fres-as-a-daisy Issei, as he spoke.

"How the hell can the two of you be so cool after running as much as we did?"

Matsuda shrugged, before answering.

"I _was_ a member of the track and field club until last year, I might have gone a few months without running and lost some of my leg strength and speed, but my heart and lungs are still going strong, so I can run for quite a while as long as I pace myself."

Matsuda turned towards Issei, before speaking.

"How _are_ you so fresh, though? I mean, I know that it's been months since I last trained, but I was a jock for years, while you were average up until your break. And even if you got fit in those two months, I haven't seen you lift a finger for the whole time we've been in Kuoh!"

Issei raised an eyebrow at Matsuda.

"I've been doing these 4AM runs every day since I came back from vacation. I actually held back today, so that the two of you could keep up with me."

Motohama blanched at those words, while Matsuda blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, I held back a whole lot. I usually work out until 6, 6:30, and do more than just running. I stopped at 5 today because the two of you wouldn't be able to keep up, but after the two of you get home, I'll go back to my own routine."

Motohama and Matsuda traded looks, the two noticeably annoyed at the knowledge that Issei had to hold back just so the two of them could keep up.

Between his studious nature and this, Issei was constantly improving himself. It would've been one thing if Issei simply outgrew them and left them behind, however the three of them didn't have that type of 'friendship'.

They befriended eachother through their common interest in perverted things, yet they acclimated to eachother's personalities and quirks, and supported eachother through every difficult stretch of life, from their status as social pariahs, to their constant attempts at getting girls to like them, they had each other's backs. Obviously, in a friendship like this, Issei would never think of leaving the two of them behind.

This meant, however, that he had to hold back so they could keep up with him. If he's holding back, then he's not making the most effort within the time he has available to do so, meaning that he does not improve as much as he could.

He does not reach his maximum potential.

Motohama and Matsuda could be many things, but they were not the type of people who were alright with being dead weight, wrapped around their best friend's ankles. It was the reason they took Issei's study sessions so seriously and why they started studying on their own, so that their grades reflected his own.

Now, the two of them decided that they wouldn't just constantly hold Issei back in physical matters either. This was especially egregious for Matsuda, who had an athletic background.

Trading looks while Issei was looking away from them, Motohama and Matsuda nodded decisively at one another, promising to do their best to never weigh down their friend. The act they took next was based on this decision.

"You go on ahead, dude. I'll help Motohama back to his place."

Issei turned towards Matsuda with a raised eyebrow, prompting the glasses-clad pervert to, through sheer willpower, stand back up, his knees wobbling yet not giving out. He gave Issei a shaky thumbs up, getting a genuine smile from the brunet.

Said smile morphed into a much-too-sharp grin, before he spoke.

"Well, since you seem to have so much spirit, I expect you to go on for longer in our next work outs than you did today. Also, drink lots of water."

Having said that, Issei turned around and jogged off towards the last phase of his training regimen.

* * *

"Man... I've been dilly-dallying so far, lazy since the supernatural world seemed to be far away, but with this new influx of supernatural people into the town I gotta make sure that my training keeps progressing..."

Issei rolled his shoulders, his eyes moving along the abandoned construction site he stood in the middle of. This was the place that he decided to get some serious physical training in, since it was pretty much abandoned since her was a child, and no authorities ever did anything about the various machines and materials that were scattered around.

Having finished his stretching, Issei walked towards a pile of stacked-up steel girders, cracking his knuckles and exhaling in preparation for what he was about to do.

He bent his legs lightly, his fingers finding purchase around one of the girders before he _pulled_ , straightening his knees even as he lifted the girder bit by bit, his arms trembling and his cheeks puffed up by the effort.

He hefted the girder onto his shoulders with a grunt of exertion, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, before he started doing squats, his body automatically doing the moves while his mind wandered.

' _Man, I am not as strong as I hoped. With the_ _ **Boosted Gear**_ _and my other abilities active, this would be an absolute cakewalk!... But that is sort of the point of this, I guess. Raise my base strength, and when I start stacking the buffs (which are exponential, not linear), I get the best results possible._ '

His thoughts were brought back to the present when he felt his legs about to give out on him. Rather than letting himself get crushed by a thousand something pounds of steel, Issei bent his knees lightly, built up strength from his lower body, then flipped the girder off of himself, allowing it to fall with a loud thump and raise a moderately sized cloud of dust.

Waving one of his hands to disperse the dust, Issei turned towards the horizon, his eyes narrowing when the sight of the rising sun blinded him for an instant.

' _It's about time for me to head home and get ready for school..._ '

He turned his gaze back to the steel girder, a thoughtful frown on his face.

' _I can lift a girder if I make it a full body effort... But the type of things that I'll fight will likely use girders as toothpicks, so that is nowhere near enough. I need to get strong enough to make this type of effort casual, even without enhancing myself. Guess I'll be making an even more intense training menu than my usual calisthenics..._ '

Nodding to himself, the brunet took off his tracksuit's jacket, wrapping it around his waist and revealing his torso clad only in a white wife-beater, before approaching the girder he had worked out with.

A small application of force had the thing upright and pushed into the ground in a suficient level to stay standing, before he changed stances. He put his left foot forward and his right one back, his hands closed into fists and placed at about chin level.

He inhaled deeply, his eyes stuck on the center of the improvised punching post as his muscles tensed in anticipation.

His eyes narrowed as he focused on that spot, his mind placing what were overlaying images of the faces of Travis and the three fates, his magic roiling within him in response to the spike in his emotions, asking, _begging_ to be unleashed.

His inner animal slammed into the metaphorical cage, doing it's best to see itself unleashed upon the reflection of what Issei saw as the most contemptible beings he knew of, yet Issei's will and focus managed to beat it back down. Despite this, adrenaline still flooded him, and a deep frown adorned his face. And then, in an instant...

 _He moved_.

To a regular watcher, the best way to describe what they had just seen would be to say that Issei vanished for an instant, before he reappeared with an outstreched right arm, his clothes swaying backwards as if he had been sprinting at full speed.

For anyone capable of perceiving motion at this speed, or for Issei himself, the explanation was much less fantastic. After having chosen something to hit, and motivating himself to hit with his full strength, Issei stepped in hard, letting the strength go up his legs, twisting his hips and waist forward as he did, the muscles of his body tensing in a specific motion as the entirety of the built up power was transfered up the dorsal and back muscles, going up to his right shoulder. He rolled his right shoulder slightly forward, following through in the motion, and as the strength reached his arm...

He fired.

Regardless of the level of understanding one could possibly have over the _how_ of the event, the results would be the same for any watchers.

Mere instants after Issei finished the motion, or 'reappeared' as it were, a sound akin to that of an explosion roared out with the girder as the center, a shockwave blowing back hard enough to push around objects directly in it's vicinity, and causing Issei's hair and clothes to whip wildly in the air.

Issei let out a cleasing breath, all of his negative thoughts easily evaporating into as much as thin air as his body relaxed in it's entirety, returning to his regular footing. He looked at his punching post, noting the manner in which the dense girder got bent and warped inwards at the point of contact.

"Not bad at all."

He then looked down at his knuckles, noticing the fact that they had swelled noticeably. He poked one of said knuckles with his left index, wincing as he spoke.

"Guess I need to work on durability as well. Punching hard ain't useful if you can only do so a few times, due to torn knuckles or broken bones."

He exhaled, the tension fully leaving his body as he donned his jacket again.

"School time, huh..."

Having said that, Issei easily hopped over the tall wall that surrounded the abandoned site before moving towards home at a pace that most would consider a sprint.

A few minutes after Issei was gone, a figure detached itself from one of the many shadows of the construction. Little could be noticed about the figure other than the fact that whatever they were wearing was blue in color, and that their face sported a massive, ear to ear grin.

"Such strength... ' _The Dragon of Kuoh_ ' indeed... Marvelous!"

The figure moved towards the still standing girder, it's fingers gliding along the point of impact where it had been warped.

"Stress fractures..."

The grin already on it's face progressed into a small chuckle, before evolving into a full-blown, belly laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MOST MARVELOUS INDEED!"

The laugh receded back into chuckles, before the figure spoke, more than just a bit of bloodthirst in it's voice.

"We _will_ be meeting, Hyoudou-san. That is a promise."

Having said that, the figure walked deeper into the abandoned construction, the shadows completely obscuring it.

* * *

"Wow, the three of you look like you went 10 rounds with a mad gorilla."

While Issei and Matsuda shrugged, used to the post-workout soreness, a grumpy Motohama spoke.

"Well, Issei decided that it was a great idea to kidnap me and Matsuda from our beds at 4 AM to go for a run."

Aika turned towards Issei, her face sporting a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk as she spoke.

"Really now? Are you going to try kidnapping me out of my bed at 4 AM as well?"

Issei's response was made in a nonchalant tone, with a neutral expression.

"If I went into your bedroom at 4 AM, while we would likely be engaged in some sort of physical activity, it wouldn't require you leaving your bed."

Motohama and Matsuda froze for an instant, their gazes moving towards Aika, only to meet...

"R-really?"

The two young men's mouths widened at the sight of a blushing, embarrassed Aika, her hands going through one of her large braids as she kept trying to look at Issei, before her eyes darted away.

The brunet, speaking in a tone one would use when discussing the weather, pushed forth.

"Oh yeah. I'd go so hard that your bed's frame would break, your matress would gain a permanent imprint of our bodies, and your neighbours would would be lodging multiple noise complaints with the munipical authorities.

"I'd fuck you so hard you wouldn't walk straight for weeks."

Motohama and Matsuda's gaze snapped back towards Issei, before going back to Aika, noticing the fact that her blush had taken up the entirety of her face and even her ears.

"That's... Really sweet of you, Ise."

"WHAT!?"

Issei, Aika and an approaching Akeno turned towards the incredulous Motohama, who pointed a finger at Aika as he spoke.

"What the hell!? This isn't the sort of response that a girl has when a guy says that kind of stuff!

"She's supposed to get mad, shout a lot, and then slap the guy! Even _I_ know that, and I'm a total pervert!

"That's just _common sense_!"

Issei turned towards Motohama, looking him in the eye, before stating in the most deadpan tone imaginable.

"Comm-what sen-who?"

The glasses-wearing pervert could only gape at the brunet, Matsuda's brain still frozen and Aika still stroking one of her braids with a massive blush across her face, when Akeno's voice reached the group.

"You're fighting a losing battle, Motohama-san. People like Issei tend to look common sense in the eye before laughing it out of the room, and tend to either surround themselves with similar people, or infect those around them with the same particular mindset.

"Remember that little fact before complaining about anyone's lack of common sense. You _did_ call yourself a pervert in the same breath, and you did it with zero shame or hesitation."

Motohama drooped at that, a metaphorical cloud of depression materializing above him as he spoke.

"Yeah, I get it."

An amused smile on her face at Motohama's reaction, Akeno turned towards Issei, only to be greeted with a raised eyebrow.

"No honorifics? That's pretty friendly, ain't it?"

The girl shrugged, an indulgent smile on her face as she spoke.

"I already offered to let you hold my breasts. After that, simply using your name feels like it's not much."

The brunet shook his head at that, before responding.

"There's a difference between teasing banter, and honest conversations. I'm glad that you think I'm a good enough friend for you to drop honorifics for, Akeno."

The fact that he said so with a genuine smile on his face caused Akeno to raise her sleeve to her mouth as she let out a chuckle, in order to cover up the small blush that his words had elicited.

' _You truly are a dangerous young man, aren't you, Issei?_ '

"HAVE YOU NO SHAME!?"

Issei, Aika, Motohama, Akeno and Matsuda turned towards the source of the shout, only to see a blond-haired young man approaching them with flaring nostrils and a glint in his eye.

He stopped right in front of Issei and crossed his arms imperiously before speaking up.

"How dare you use such crass language around ladies, you fiend!? And for someone who already has a beautiful maiden of their own as a partner to so shamelessly flirt with other women... You are the lowest of the low!"

Issei stared blankly at the blond for a minute, the group of students that had surrounded the scene watching with trepidation, tension building up with each passing second. The blonde seemed to be waiting for some kind of response.

"You're annoying, go away."

Having said that, the brunet shifted his focus back towards his friend group as if the matter was already settled - which, as far as it concerned him, it _was_ \- and smiled at Akeno as he spoke.

"So, the breast-holding offer still val-"

"How dare you ignore me, you cur!? I am Kageyama Motoyasu, the ace of Kikakuen Middle's Karate club! You are nothing more than a lech who got lucky enough to get good grades in a few tests!

"Hell, I bet a delinquent like you cheated in your entrance tests, since there's no way someone like you could even manage to get into such a prestigious academy on your own merits!"

Akeno's smile turned noticeably fake, Aika's embarassment fading into a frown of irritation and Motohama and Matsuda seemed to be about one moment away from jumping the guy, their exhaustion forgotten, when Issei's amused-sounding words stopepd them.

"You know, Envy-green clashes horribly with your hair color. You should find a different look."

Both being ignored as a threat and being called out on his envy had the blond bristling, his temper boiling over as his thoughts raced.

' _This wasn't supposed to be how things went! I was supposed to call out Hyoudou, he lashes out and attacks me, I beat him up, and the girls in the academy would be so glad to see the pervert squashed that they'd be throwing themselves all over me!... Wait a second, I can still salvage things!_ '

"As expected of a cowardly delinquent, trying to change the subject so that he can avoid taking responsibility for his flaws! Well, I won't let that happen! I challenge you to a battle! You lose, and you'll apologize for all the things you've done, and stop bothering the girls of this academy! If you win, which I very much doubt, then I'll leave you alone.

"What say you?"

"I say that you should climb down from the high horse you're on before you get forcibly knocked down from it, buddy. Aside from the fact that fighting you would be a waste of time, during which I could be doing something more enjoyable such as studying, spending time with my girlfriend, friends, or passing a kidney stone, there is also the fact that I have nothing to prove to you.

"So tell me, why would I spend my time trying to convince someone whose opinion matters to me about as much as a dog turd on the sidewalk, that I'm not 'as bad as he thinks' ?"

Motoyasu could hear the people around him murmmuring, any support that he expected from the crowd being in complete absence. Allowing things to just die like this would be very bad for his image, so he went for another route.

"You're just afraid of losing that girlfriend of yours!"

Motoyasu regretted those words almost as soon as he said them, the look in the brunet's eyes shifting, and his tone losing the previous jocosity they had as he spoke.

"What."

Despite his instincts telling him that he should just apologize and leave, Motoyasu's ego told him to hold onto the one thing that seemed to actually shake the pervert and run with it, so he kept going.

"You're afraid that after I'm through with you, your girl will see that you're nothing more than an unremarkable pervert, a delinquent loser with no future; you're afraid that she'll finally see what a real man is by contrasting your pitiful self with me. You're afraid that I'll _take_ your girlfriend."

Issei's stadily tightening face blanked completely as the last sentence was said, something which caused a chill to run through the spines of every single person who saw it happening.

The brunet stood up in a motion that seemed much too dangerous for how... casual... it was, his voice as blank as his gaze as he spoke.

"Time, date and location."

Motoyasu himself felt something within him screaming in terror at the way the conversation proceeded, his rational side kicking, screaming and doing anything it could to try to convince him that this was a bad idea, and that he should just stay away from Hyoudou, yet his Ego managed to shout louder, resulting in his cocky - yet shaky - grin as he answered.

"This friday, after classes, Karate club dojo."

"I'll be there."

Having said that, Issei turned his back on Motoyasu and walked through his friends, none of them doing more than give him sympathetic looks, however, as soon as he went out of sight, the lot of them turned towards Motoyasu, all of them sporting different levels of murder in their eyes.

Aika, a sneer on her face, spoke with absolute disgust.

"Men like you are the absolute worst."

Her piece spoken, Aika too left the scene.

Akeno's mouth was hidden behind her sleeve, yet her eyes told Motoyasu how much she appreciated him, which was not at all. The tiny sparks dancing along her fingers would have been a great indicator of it as well, however they were hidden by her wide sleeves.

Motohama and Matsuda sneered and snarled, respectively, at the blond, before following after the rest of their group.

Despite the cocky smirk on his face, Motoyasu could only inwardly curse at himself for the level of idiocy he displayed.

Already he could see whispers travelling through the academy, people telling eachother about the events that occured, meaning that he couldn't simply not show up with some flimsy excuse.

' _Well, I really fucked it up right there, didn't I?_ '

* * *

"Issei?"

The brunet turned towards Matsuda, all but spearing him in place. Managing to push the glare aside, he spoke up.

"Are you okay, dude? I've never seen you get... Like that."

Issei's gaze softened as he exhaled soothingly, allowing the tension to leave his body as he answered.

"Yeah... I was very angry, but I'm fine now."

Aika walked up to him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder before speaking up.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Issei sighed again, stretching his eyes before speaking up.

"I'm... on edge, today. I mean, I'm usually always on edge at least somewhat, that's sleeping a single full night in a few months does to you, but I've recently been reminded of certain... Aspects of my life, that... Well, they're not very nice, or easy to swallow.

"When that asshole talked about taking my girlfriend... It hit a bit too close to home. I was angry. _Really_ angry. And while annoyance and irritation make me display it outwardly, _real_ anger, well..."

Akeno stepped forward, her tone of voice sympathetic and commiserating as she spoke, the tone of someone who intimately understands the situation.

"Real anger feels like fire and ice running through your veins at once. Like there's this boiling river rushing through you, and adding ice to it just _barely_ manages to cool it and keep you from burning out, but it turns the remaining water into acid, eating away at anything it touches."

Issei gave Akeno a surprised look, as did the other three, before speaking up with a nod.

"Yeah. It feels like there's this poison pumping through your veins, and that it will only disappear when you let it out into the person that made it flow in the first place."

The conversation ended on that note, with the group lapsing into silence for the rest of the break, and even the rest of the day.

* * *

 _"I must apologize, but I do not feel up to dancing at the moment."_

 _"I understand, my lady."_

 _The man bowed at the waist, before walking towards another young lady of high standing and offering her a dance. Sona could only let out a despondent sigh at that._

 _She might understand the importance of these balls in a general view of things, in order for the higher members of society to present a united front to the common folk and to mantain societal cohesion, yet it was no less palatable to her._

 _Despite the stated purpose of the ball, and the fact that someone on the outside looking in may actually believe that whole tripe about unity and cohesion, Sona was aware of the real happenings in the room._

 _While there were legitimately well-meaning people trying to create stronger bonds, there were also the less palatable sort of people, making use of these occasions to sow chaos and discord amongst certain more susceptible people, in an attempt at profiting off of it, be said profit an alliance, a business agreement, or a bethrotal._

 _The man that had just approached her, all charm and friendliness, was Marcus Dayne, known by most as a reputable man of a well-to-do family and a mighty knight. Sona, however, knew of his other, more obscure reputation._

 _He had a reputation of deceiving women of a certain status, his words flowing as sweet as honey and as dangerous as poison, in order to first bed them with promises of love and marriage, and then use said situation as leverage against said women and their families with threats of ruining their reputation, forcing many a gift and concession from his victims._

 _Marcus was, however, only one of the many dangerous people present, snakes in the grass, just waiting for an unaware victim so that they could strike out at their ankle._

 _Unfortunately for Sona, as the heiress of the Vallor family, the most prestigious of the families of all four kingdoms, often considered equal even to the royal family, she was often targeted by these individuals for a myriad of reasons._

 _There had been many attempts already, however she always managed to, through her wit and watchfulness, stay one step ahead of these scoundrels. As such, she always kept herself above the subject of love, seeing it as none of her concern._

 _"Sona, darling!"_

 _The girl turned towards the source of the voice, her mother, who motioned her over with one hand, the other one occupied by a young man she knew as well as she despised._

 _"Sazen."_

 _Her cold tone was ignored by the young man who smiled at her as if she was the best sight he had seen the whole day._

 _"Sona, you only get more beautiful each time I see you..."_

 _The girl barely held back her grimace at the overly casual address, her tone as frosty as the tundra as she responded._

 _"Do not forget your manners, Heir Shultz. One does not address a member of a house of higher standing with such... casuality."_

 _Sona's mother interrupted their talk by pushing Sazen into Sona as she spoke._

 _"I believe I see Lady Krantz, I shall ensure that she recieves a warm and proper welcome. Be good in my absence, children!"_

 _Before Sazen could say a thing, Sona uncerimoniously pushed him away from her, before taking a further step away from him._

 _Smiling smarmily at her, Sazen took a step towards the girl as he spoke._

 _"Come now, Sona, don't be so cold! You know my heart beats only for you, and your distance wounds me truly!"_

 _"I am quite sure that my presence would lead to you incurring more wounds, Heir Shultz."_

 _Sona saw a flash of anger barely repressed within Sazen's eyes, something which brought great satisfaction to her._

 _Sazen managed to compose himself before anyone else could see his slip, his ultimate goal of marrying into the Vallor family driving him forward in life._

 _He stepped closer to Sona, ignoring her grimace as he did, before raising his hand to her and speaking up._

 _"Would you like to dance?"_

 _"She can't dance with you, unfortunately, because she has already promised me a dance."_

 _Both Sona and Sazen turned towards the source of the voice, only for Sona's eyes to widen in surprise._

 _Back-length brown hair tied into a ponytail, a handsome face, somehow mixing boyish charm with mature good looks, eyes that were somewhere between brown and hazel in color, and a build that, even under the tasteful red outfit he wore, was noticeably rugged, a result of hours of work and activity._

 _His shoulders were broad, the palms of his hands callused, and his smile straight and clean._

 _Sona had no idea who this man - whose knowing smirk made butterflies flutter in her belly - was, however Sazen seemed to, his face turning to one of disgust as he adressed the man._

 _"Houssen. How would someone like_ you _be allowed to be in the presence of real nobility such as myself? Need I call for the guards to remove you, or will you do so on your own?"_

 _Sona watched this new man as he, rather than reacting in anger, outrage or fear, gave Sazen an even wider, cheekier smirk, his tone casual, even almost friendly as he spoke._

 _"Oh, you were not aware, Sazen? Queen Helmene herself saw fit to give me an invitation to this event. She said, and I quote: 'It is about time the members of high society learn about the newest and most prestigious addition to the Queen's Guard, and I refuse to allow you to skip any more of these parties!'_

 _"Threatened to inflict young lady Lillian upon me if I refused."_

 _The last part was said with a slight grimmace on his face, however, rather than give the jerk time to recover, Houssen took Sona's hand and started guiding her towards the dance floor. Before she could pull away, however, she heard the whispers of many surrounding her, the attention of the entire room all but focusing on herself and this stranger that had taken her hand._

 _Taught from a young age of the importance of public perception and the protection of her image, Sona pasted a smile on her face that was so convincing as to seem sincere to all but her parents even as she was marched to the dancefloor._

 _The two interjected themselves perfectly into the group of already twirling and dancing people, their hands properly placed and their steps graceful and always obeying the rhythm of the music, even as they whispered to one another._

 _"You will regret subjecting me to this sort of role, Ser Houssen."_

 _Smirking at the sharp contrast between the friendly expression the young lady sported and the acid tone she spoke with, Houssen responded in an amused tone._

 _"Oh, don't be like that. I saw a jerk, I decided to annoy him. The fact that I saved someone else from being subjected to his... Jerk-ness... Is merely the cherry on top. And please do call me Issei, all my friends do."_

 _"I am no friend of yours!"_

 _"Whatever you say, miss..."_

 _Having said that, the man quieted down and focused completely on dancing, his movements changing, a mix of relentless energy, burning passion and smooth, flowing motions joining his already remarkable dancing._

 _Not wanting to be left behind or eclipsed, Sona focused completely on the dance, on the way her body flowed together with her partner's, how two different sets of motions from two different people blurred and bended into one. She managed to match her partner step by step, and, in doing so, completely forget about the troubles in her life._

 _For the duration of the dance, she stopped thinking about who she was or wasn't, what expectations had been forced onto her, be it by her family, the people, or others, and the responsibilities that fell on her due to her status as the Vallor heiress. No, for the duration of this dance, Sona was simply focused on the rhythm of the music, allowing her body to follow both it and her partner's lead._

 _As the last note was played, Sona felt herself being dipped by her dance partner, their eyes locking onto one another as they simply stood there, frozen in place, their chests heaving after their exertion, and, unbeknownst to Sona, a massively wide, genuine smile on her face._

 _The short spell was broken by ernest clapping, before a voice known to the majority of the four Kingdoms called out._

 _"Bravo! Bravo! A very inspired performance, my dear knight!"_

 _Sona's partner softly pulled her back to her feet, ignoring te way she glared at him to turn and address the speaker, a cheeky smile on his face as he spoke._

 _"I try."_

 _A wave of gasps passed through the room at that, whispers filled the air even as disdainful looks were levelled towards the red-clad young man. A man of a merchant family stepped forward, indignation in his heart as he spoke._

 _"How dare you so casually address Her Highness Queen Helmene of the Scheillen Kingdom? GUARDS! ARREST THIS IMPUDENT MAN!"_

 _More than a few of the guards moved in, ready to attack him, yet rather than show any sort of trepidation, the young man simply kept smirking, a certain sheen entering his eye as he looked at the armed and armored men._

 _"STOP!"_

 _Before anyone could act, however, a regal figure clad in a dress of spun gold threads wearing a large, jewel-encrusted crown caused everyone to freeze with a shout._

 _"Queen Helmene..." "Her Highness..." "The Benevolent Queen..." "The sunbeam of Scheillen..."_

 _Various whispers filled the air as the Queen of what was widely considered the strongest and most prosperous of the four kingdoms walked towards the scene, the crowd parting around her as they would around a tigress._

 _"Oh come on, Hel, why do you have to ruin my fun?"_

 _Gasps sounded throughout the venue, and even Sona shot Issei a look that asked him whether he was insane or idiotic, however everyone was even more surprised when the Scheillen Queen snorted, her hands on her waist as she answered._

 _"Your definition of fun is more fit for a tavern than a ballroom."_

 _"Hey! You were the one that insisted on me coming in the first place! It's not my fault these sorts of parties are boring!"_

 _A sly look in her eye, Helmene spoke in a smug tone._

 _"You didn't seem to be bored while you were dancing with this lovely young lady."_

 _Issei raised his finger, mouth open with the intent to respond, before he lowered said hand, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding in agreement._

 _"Point. Still, things were just about to get good and you took away my entertainment."_

 _"Only you would consider thrashing someone's entire guard regiment to be entertainment, you miscreant."_

 _"You chose to bring a miscreant as your plus one, don't blame the miscreant for miscreeing."_

 _"That's not even a real word!"_

 _"Says who?"_

 _"I do!"_

 _"Well who died and made you queen?"_

 _"MY MOTHER!"_

 _"Pfft, details..."_

 _Queen and miscreant locked gazes, the two glaring at one another, before the Queen's lips twitched. Said twitch was matched by the red clad man's eyebrow, before the two broke down laughing, much to the confusion of the entirety of the party._

 _Their laughter quited down after a few moments, leaving a pair of grinning loons and a bewildered young lady stading in the middle of the room, before one of the loons, who just so happened to be the most famous person alive at the moment, spoke up._

 _"For anyone who may not have understood yet, this reprobate standing in front of me is Ser Issei Houssen, the youngest man in history to have achieved the title of a Queen's Guard, and the strongest man in Scheillen's recorded history!"_

 _The anouncement was met with an instant of silence, before all hell broke loose…_

* * *

" _-chou..._ "

" _Kaichou..._ "

"Kaichou!"

Sona jumped in place, her mind withdrawing from the far, _far_ away place it had gone to, her blush suppressed through a sheer act of willpower. Breathing deeply to allow her beating heart to rest, Sona spun her chair so she could face Tsubaki, who had called from her name.

Clearing her throat, the Sitri heiress spoke.

"Yes, Tsubaki?"

"Have you heard the news yet?"

Sona raised an eyebrow at Tsubaki, her tone dry as she answered.

"I've been ensconced within my office the entire day, my time spent signing gocuments until my mind decided to wander off on it's own in the craziest direction imaginable. It is _quite obvious_ that I heard the news, is it not, Tsubaki?"

The Sitri queen blushed slightly at the sarcastic admonishment from her King, adjusting her glasses in an attempt at reducing her embarrassment. Sona, taking a measure of pity on Tsubaki, let out a sigh before speaking.

"Don't mind me, Tsubaki, I'm just tired. Go ahead with what you wanted to say."

Giving her King a thankful look, Tsubaki cleared her throat, before speaking up.

"It seems that Hyoudou-san was challenged to a duel of sorts."

This news got Sona's full attention, her intent gaze causing her Queen to lightly fidget, but seeing that her King had no intention of interrupting her, she went on.

"Another first year and member of the Karate club, Kageyama Motoyasu, called Hyoudou-san out in public for his 'perverted deeds', before challenging him to a duel that's been scheduled for next friday."

Sona leaned back into her office chair, placing her elbows on the arm rests and steepling her fingers in front of her mouth as she thought, the light coming from the window behind her hitting her glasses at an angle that caused the glare to hide her eyes.

Tsubaki shivered at the sight, memories of a certain anime she had watched when she was younger coming to mind.

' _Gendo, you are not... Thankfully..._ '

"Tsubaki."

The Sitri queen focused on her King as she spoke.

"I want someone in place to ensure that this fight does not go beyond certain limits."

Tsubaki blinked at that, her tone incredulous as she responded.

"You won't try stopping this fight?"

Sona pushed her glasses up, her look shrewd as she spoke.

"Even if we admonished the two of them and kept the fight outside of school, it would still occur in one form or another. The difference would be that it would occur in some other venue, where limits will likely be forgotten, and the image of the school may possibly be damaged.

"Our best bet is to ensure that the fight occurs without outside knowledge in order to protect the image of the academy, and with someone arbitrating the dispute in order to minimize the possible violence."

Sona leaned forward at that, resting her hands on her desk, her tangled fingers covering her mouth and the glare in her glasses doing the same to her eyes.

"The fight might be unavoidable, but it will be on _our_ terms."

Tsubaki hid a simultaneous grimace and snicker at the sheer amount of parallels between Gendo and Sona she could see at the moment, taking the time to clear her throat before speaking.

"I will make sure to send members of the student council to meet up with both students and arrange for the events to occur as you wish it to."

"No."

Tsubaki blinked at that.

"Kaichou?"

"Send a student council member to Kageyama with the information regarding these new arrangements. As for Hyoudou-san... Send him a summons, I shall be sure to give him the message first-hand.

"I know you will not fail me, Tsubaki."

"Yes, Commande-err, Kaichou."

Bowing lightly at her King, Tsubaki hurriedly made her way out of the student council room to ensure that her Kaichou's orders were fulfilled, closing the door behind her as she did.

Alone again, Sona leaned back into her chair and took off her glasses. As she polished them, she allowed her mind to wander.

' _Houssen..._ '

* * *

"WHAT!?"

"I believe I've already made myself clear already, Kageyama-san. The student council will be taking an arbitrarial role in your conflict with Hyoudou Issei-san."

"But, Meguri-senpai -"

"No buts! This is an order straight from the student council president! You either follow your instructions, or you deal with the punishments and consequences later on. These could range from extended periods of detention, to suspension from the Karate club, or even expulsion from Kuoh altogether."

"I-... Fine, senpai."

Meguri Tomoe, second year student and Sona's knight, allowed her gaze to spear into Kageyama, letting him squirm for a while, before she finally left the Karate clubroom.

Left alone in the room, Kageyama clenched his hair, his thoughts going in a disarray.

' _Fuck! Everything goes wrong! From my confrontation with Hyoudou, up to my latest plan to have the fight be a closed doors matter with only Karate club members which would rule in my favor regardless of anything else, everything is just going up in smoke! There must be something I can do!_ '

Motoyasu slapped himself. Hard.

' _Okay, I'm calm now, so I can think more clearly. While my plan may be a bust, there's still a chance! Hyoudou may have thrashed those three delinquent guys, but they were slow, untrained, uncoordinated buffoons. I am a trained Karateka with years of national-level competitions under my belt! Even if he is intimidating, there is still no way for him to beat me!_ '

He calmed himself with this thought, his panic vanishing altogether and giving place to various fantasies of the world after his victory, which involved himself wearing a massive crown, surrounded by a massive amount of babes, and a crying Hyoudou being kicked out of Kuoh.

' _Yes, victory is mine!_ '

* * *

"Enter."

Issei walked into the Student Council room following Tsubaki, his gaze instantly locking onto Sona as he casually plopped himself onto the seat that was stationed across the president, a sparkly smile on his face as he spoke, once again, in english.

" _Hey there, Baby~_ "

Sona was not aware whether her small blush came in response to Issei's words or the chuckling of her peerage that was arrayed around the room - _a little bit of both, but she was in denial_ \- each of them positioned as comfortably as they could, their focus placed on the conversation between their King and the Hyoudou young man due to the possible comedic value from the interaction.

Issei directed a cocky smirk at Sona before talking, this time in japanese.

"Missed me already, Souna-chan? You couldn't go a few days without staring into my beautiful eyes, hmm?"

The girl blushed further, refraining from answering aloud despite the fact that her brain had a few lined up already

' _When he acts this cocky, I can sort of understand why Rias insists on saying they're alike... It's as if someone decided to make a bootleg version of Issei, with less humor and more arrogance and entitlement, and_ _ ***Poof***_ _, instant Phenex._ '

Sona pushed this stray thought aside, focusing more on what she intended to do, which was...

Shit. She drew a blank and had no idea what to say to him.

Sona stared at Issei, Issei stared at Sona, the clock's ticking being the only entity present in the room other than silence at the moment.

The members of Sona's peerage were watching with bated breath, each of them having thoughts of their tactical genius King and the pervert with hidden depths engaging in some sort of psychological play so complex and advanced the lot of them couldn't even understand.

"So... Nice weather we're having, no?"

Sona cringed as soon as she finished speaking, her inner mortification achieving incalculable dimensions as she waited for Issei to laugh her off, or tease her, or something. She was surprised when Issei nodded at that, his answer coming in an earnest tone.

"Yeah, it's been pretty great. Not as hot as during summer, but no biting autumn-chill yet, a pretty temperate climate where you can choose to wear either cool, or slightly warmer clothes with no problem."

"Mhm."

"Yeah."

The two lapsed back into silence, Issei looking at Sona curiously, while Sona stared at Issei impassively, and the rest of the room held it's breath at the 4D chess those two were likely playing.

' _He's just sitting there... Staring! What am I supposed to do?_ '

Sona cleared her throat, her gaze moving throughout the room in an instant with a few objects really sticking out to her sight. One of them was a teapot, another was a tray, and the last one...

"Tsubaki, please go and prepare some snacks and refreshments for myself and Hyoudou-san. Momo, please produce my chess set."

The peerage gasped in unison at the request, the majority of them returning to a tense, watchful silence as Tsubaki left to arrange what she had been asked, and Momo retrieved Sona's chess set, placing it on top of her desk.

Momo arranged the pieces of the board, before Sona spoke up.

"Are you familiar with the game of chess, Hyoudou-san?"

"No, I cannot say I am."

Sona leaned forward, her elbows resting on her desk and her fingers tangled in front of her mouth as she spoke.

"Chess is a two player strategy board game, played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an 8x8 grid. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one King, one Queen, two Rooks, two Knights, two Bishops and eight Pawns. Each piece has a different set of moves, with the most powerful being the queen, and the least powerful being the pawn - at the start of the game at least, but that is for later.

"The goal of the game is to put the opponent's king in a checkmate, an inescapable threat of capture. You do this by attacking and capturing your opponent's pieces using your own, and moving your pieces in ways that allow them to support one-another most effectively in this endeavor.

"Other than a checkmate, you can achieve victory in a chess match either if the opponent resigns, or if, in a timed match, your opponent runs out of time.

"The two sides of the match are designated as White and Black. Since you are unfamiliar with the game, you will be White, which gets the privilege of playing first."

After explaining these basic premises, Sona explained the individual movements that each piece can perform as clearly as she could, Issei absorbing her words and nodding as he did.

"So, Hyoudou-san, are you ready for a game?"

Issei responded by moving a pawn two houses forward, opening up the game.

Sona's peerage watched, their jaws going lower and lower as their King took longer and longer to play after each of Hyoudou's moves.

The same thought went through the heads of Sona's peerage members.

' _He's a frickin' genius!_ '

A different one went through Sona's mind.

' _W-what is this? These moves... None of them make sense! It's as if he's just playig randomly, rather than just sacrificing his pawns, he's using his stronger pieces to protect them, and lose them in the process! This... He's got to be setting up some sort of play!_ '

Tsubaki entered the student council room with various drinks and snacks, moving around silently in order not to disrupt the extremely intense chess match between the two intellectual and strategic behemoths that were clashing right in front of them.

15 minutes after the game started, Sona moved a piece an called out.

"Checkmate."

The brunet smiled ruefully at that, taking one of the cans that Tsubaki had placed on the desk during their play and taking a look at the label to ensure that it wasn't apple juice.

' _Wow, passionfruit soda, my favorite!_ '

He popped the tab on the can, taking a good, deep gulp from the soda before placing it back on top of the desk. He looked back up at Sona, seeing that she kept looking at the board, her gaze a bit lost, while the rest of the people around the room were dead silent.

"So... Did you call me here just for a match of chess? I mean it's cool if you did, I had fun and I wouldn't mind doing this again, but... Is there nothing else?"

Sona looked away from the chessboard, her gaze falling onto Issei with such intensity that one could make a case for an attempt at seeing through him. Her gaze still on him, she spoke.

"I called you here over something that I heard earlier, regarding a certain Karate club member."

Issei's whole demeanor flipped after Sona said that, his voice as cold as the arctic as he spoke.

" _Ah, him._ "

Sona cleared her throat, pushing aside the confusing mix of positive, negative and just plain weird feelings that Issei's current behavior elicited from her, before speaking.

"Yes. After hearing about what happened, I decided that the student council needed to intervene. Your 'duel' shall occur in the presence of the Student Council, and one of our members shall be acting as referee."

"So you won't try to stop us from fighting?"

"Even if we ensured you did not fight within school grounds, you would likely do so outside of school. Rather than allowing that to happen, we will make sure that you fight in a safer venue than the streets, with proper gear and quick access to medical support."

Issei stopped and thought for a bit, before giving Sona a single nod.

"I find that an acceptable set of conditions."

"Very well. Feel free to see yourself out, Hyoudou-san."

Issei nodded at Sona before making his way out of the student council room, with the rest of Sona's peerage talking amongst themselves about what had just happened.

"Wait."

Issei stopped mid-step, doorknob in hand and door halfway open, before turning his head towards Sona, his focus fully on her. Her peerage, on the other hand, kept shifting focus between the two of them.

"Before you leave, I want you to explain something to me. When we were playing chess... It felt as if you purposefully put some of your pieces in unnecessary danger and all but offered them over for capture, even in exchange for pawns.

"Why did you play like that? Were you going easy on me? Throwing the match?"

Issei blinked owlishly at Sona, tilting his head to the side before responding.

"I would think it's very obvious why I played the way I did."

With that statement, Issei left the student council room and softly closed the door behind himself, leaving behind a pensive Sona. She was focused on the moves Issei pulled, before he mind started going through everything she knew of him.

"!"

The answer came to her in an instant, causing her to think aloud, completely forgetting about her peerage that was still present in the room.

" _Sacrificing bigger pieces to protect pawns..._ He was trying to send me a message... 'Within the same team, the stronger ones should protect the weaker ones, so that they too may grow strong one day'..."

The members of Sona's peerage were all but blown back by the conclusion their King had reached, the lot of them once again thinking along the same lines.

' _Such wisdom from him... How admirable..._ '

Nodding to herself, Sona spoke up.

"Hyoudou Issei... Such an interesting person... Anyone who underestimates you, should do so at their own peril. I, for one, will no longer commit that mistake."

The rest of her peerage agreed completely with her thoughts.

Within Sona's mind, her image of Hyoudou Issei gained a few more sparkles around him.

* * *

 _"Why did you play like that? Were you going easy on me? Throwing the match?"_

Issei snorted as he thought back to the question Sona had asked him, before his own response came back to mind.

 _"I would think it's very obvious why I played the way I did."_

' _Yup. It was quite obvious to anyone watching the match that I had absolutely no idea about what I was doing!_ '

With those thoughts in mind and a whistled tune, Issei left Kuoh for the day.

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_


	21. To Stand Above

**_What's up, folks? It's that time of the *insert relative measurement of time here* again, so you guys know what that means!_**

 ** _Another chapter!_**

 ** _Before starting though, I'd like to thank darkistorrik, Jarod, Joshua Garrett and Tyric Gaia for believing in me enough to invest in me in the form of donations. You support is very much appreciated._**

 ** _If you feel like my material is good enough to warrant a donation, please feel free to do so at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz " or " subscribestar -dot- com -slash- francogamerxz " ._**

 ** _Now that that's said, let us proceed with the story!_**

* * *

"Our latest projections estimate an average global growth of 4.6% per month, over a period of 10 months."

The click of a button preceded the changing of a slide, the previous graphs changing into a pie chart.

"As you can see, this is a result of the opening of the Law branch of _Humanum Services Conglomerate_. Deals were made in an internal manner by the various heads of the different departments, creating a sense of cooperation and interdependence between the various branches of the conglomerate.

"The pharmaceutical and medical branches provide for the medical needs of the various branches of the group, while the Advocacy branch provides legal representation. The sciences and technology divisions give the other branches primary access to whichever new toys they make before going public with them.

"Each and every single part of the conglomerate works in a manner meant to eliminate the need to rely on external contractors, meaning that it's less money we're giving to groups and companies who would behave as competitors for us within said specific areas.

"Best of all, despite the fact that we're working with full efficiency in providing for the various branches of _Humanum_ , we are _still_ working in the market as normal, providing services for whomever _Humanum_ deems a proper costumer, as long as they fulfill a few certain conditions, as written within the terms of the contracts."

One of the figures sitting around the meeting table cleared her throat, gaining the attention of all others. She was a woman whose appearance would lead one to surmise her to be somewhere around her late 60's, though having aged gracefully, her silver-streaked black hair was pulled up into a tidy bun, with a few lines around her steel-grey eyes. She was clad in a black Kimono with sakura patterns adorning it both at the front and back, golden trim and accents around the sides and the edges of her sleeves, all made of noticeably expensive materials.

The original speaker nodded respectfully towards the woman, a muttered " _Madame Shimizu_ " signifying the passing of the word to her.

The now named woman - Shimizu - parted her previously pursed lips, speaking in a no-nonsense tone.

"These are the types of things that we hired you to take care of, boy. As long as you keep the company in the black and the projects running, then you're free to toss money around however you wish. Some of us are very busy people, who could be doing something much more important at this moment than sitting around listening to you spouting out number after number.

"You better make this worth our time, Shindo."

Sakenomi Shindo, the current CEO of _HSC_ managed to completely hide the irritation he felt at the old woman's interruption and the questioning of his motives, his face remaining in the same neutral, all-business mien he had been keeping for the entire presentation. He felt honestly offended at the old bat's words.

It's not as if he would summon the board members for shits and giggles, right? He too would rather be elsewhere, doing something much more important than simply crunching numbers while under the gazes of a bunch of old geezers who thought themselves much too good for the rest of 'the peasants'.

However, there was a reason for him to step foot into the boardroom and call a meeting, when he could usually do business from his home office.

Other than giving the woman a blank stare that, no matter how much she tried to hide her emotions, managed to shake her and push her into silence, he did not allow any emotion of his own to slip into his whole demeanor as he spoke.

"We need to increase the funding for... _That_ project."

His words instantly caused all of the others in the room to pay full attention to him, each of them digesting his words. Another one of the people in the room, this one shrouded in shadows, with only the smoke and burning tip of a cigar visible spoke, the tone noticeably masculine, and very gravelly in nature, each word like two rocks grinding together.

"We have already ramped up the cash flow into it by 45% over the previous 3 months, boy. What more could be needed?"

The others present, most of them hidden in the shadows could only nod in agreement, murmurs of assent rolling through the room. In the midst of all of this, Shindo still maintained his calm. He turned towards the canvas that the business data had been projected onto and pushed a button on the small remote on his hand, causing the image to change.

The footage showed a laboratory of some sort, various men and women in lab coats arrayed around the room, each of them focused on their specific activity. Another click of the button changed cameras, displaying the footage within some sort of chamber with a single opaque, grey wall, surrounded on all sides by clear glass. A muffled voice, sounding like one would expect someone behind a breathing mask talking, spoke up.

" _Subject 9-2-1, prepped for the trial of compound 616, designation 'Nitro'._ "

A door-sized panel opened up on the grey wall, before a struggling man, his body bound by chains of all sorts, was dragged into the room by a pair of heavily armored, extremely well armed guards.

The man was placed down on a gurney that had emerged from a circular hole that had opened on the ground before having his chains attached to specific sectors of said gurney, struggling all the while, his eyes promising murder to anyone watching.

One of the glass walls parted slightly, allowing an indistinct, brown-haired scientist to walk into the room, their face covered by a medical mask. Said scientist made their way to the masked man, a syringe full of yellowish liquid in hand.

The click of a button within the recording preceded more speech from the muffled voice of the first scientist, the one that had been narrating so far.

" _Doctor Ferdinand is going to be administering a diluted variant of compound 616, designation 616-2- 'Beefy', to the subject._ "

The chained man started struggling harder at the sight of the syringe, his eyes conveying pure terror, yet he was unable to stop the scientist from shoving the syringe into his shoulder and pressing down the plunger.

The scientist watched the yellow chemical push into the man in its entirety before taking half a step back, his eyes keenly watching the test subject.

Said test subject started struggling against his chains, his face contorted painfully before his eyes widened and his mouth opened fully, his cries and shouts of agony going unheard by the recording device.

" _Subject seems to be undergoing excruciating pain after the application of the compound, with spikes of nerve activity equivalent to those of 3rd degree burn victims firing off through the entirety of his body. It is likely that he is receiving psychosomatic feedback telling him that his entire body is on fire._ "

No one in the meeting room commented on the semi-curious, semi-gleeful tone that this was said in, their focus still on the writhing test subject. Said test subject soon started shaking as if he were having a seizure, red lights blaring within the room he was in, while the voice spoke again.

" _Intense pain is compromising the subject. Mental faculties are experiencing loss at an accelerated rate with the degeneration of his neurons, while his internal organs experience a rapid shutdown process._ "

They saw the man's body slumping, his struggles ceasing as his chest heaved in a very slow, shallow manner.

" _Total loss of motor functions. Subject has fallen into a vegetative state, and his body is just barely functional. His heart and lungs are still resisting, though it is likely they too will fail in a period of 5-7 minutes, a timeframe estimated from an in-depth analysis of subjects previously exposed to the full concentration of compound 616 'Nitro' and its effects._

" _Doctor Ferdinand, analyze the subject's condition and start preparing samples of still-living matter for further analysis._ "

After that, the voice devolved into technical chatter with the various scientists and operatives, they too outside view of the cameras, while Doctor Ferdinand did his work.

"What was this supposed to prove, _Boy_ -" spoke Shimizu while directing a haughty tone at Shindo "other than the fact that you're wasting our time, effort, money, and achieving nothing but failu-"

She was shushed by another of the shadowed figures. However, before she could make her dissatisfaction known, the audio from the recorded video did, alarm klaxons coming from the speakers as an even faster, more intense red glow pulsed from the recording, emergency lamps within the laboratory lighting up.

An until-then unheard voice spoke with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.

" _W-what the hell? What is_ that!?"

The entirety of the boardroom watched as Doctor Ferdinand walked away from the trembling and shaking gurney, before the sounds of snapping steel sounded within the recording, chain links spraying around the room.

The previously thought-of vegetative subject rolled off the bed, pained groans and animalistic growls alike flowing past his lips.

His head snapped up, baleful gaze falling on a terrified Ferdinand, even as his jumpsuit strained under bulging muscles. The outfit stretched more and more, rips and tears spreading across its surface as the man's muscle mass increased at a drastic rate.

His head changed, a pair of horns emerging from his temples even as his face shaped itself into a bovine snout.

Doctor Ferdinand ran towards the doors that led out of the testing chamber, only for them to slam shut right in front of his eyes. Turning a wild gaze at the narrator, which made it seem as if he were looking directly at the camera, he spoke.

" _WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"_

The narrator spoke up again, his tone speaking of amusement and professional curiosity alike.

" _We cannot risk the test subject escaping the chamber, Doctor Ferdinand, so the doors have been sealed for the safety of the research staff._ " The voice sounded gleefully mocking as it spoke again. " _It is just lab protocol, you understand, no?_ "

" _I AM A SENIOR RESEARCHER! I'VE DEDICATED YEARS OF MY LIFE TO THIS PROJECT! YOU NEED ME!_ "

" _Not as much as we need an object of study, doctor. Nor anywhere near as much as we need a practical test of the subject's abilities and typical behavior, now that I think about it._ "

The look on Ferdinand's face, directed straight at the camera, was very obvious in it's shift from anger and indignation, to outright terror. His voice was pleading as he spoke.

" _W-wait! I-I can still be useful! My intellect is needed! Plea-_ "

The man's plea was interrupted by a massive backhand that slammed him into one of the glass walls. The man hit the wall back-first, an audible snap indicating the fact that his spine had broken on impact, ripping an agonized shout from him.

The camera focused back on the subject, revealing a figure extremely akin to that of the greek minotaur. A hulking mass of muscle standing on two hind legs, patches of shaggy fur spread through its body. Its chest was wide and grotesquely muscled, with various groupings of veins throbbing in tandem. Each of the arms was as wide as an adult man, with fists the size of trash cans, each bearing fingers as large as individual forearms. The fur was dark in color, while it's chest, which had initially been peach-hued, gradually gained a red tinge.

The thing snorted twice before letting out a deafening bellow, causing the people within the lab in the recording to let out screams of pain in surprise, thought the narrator seemed unaffected by it.

The minotaur turned towards the agonized, moaning form of Ferdinand, skin tearing under the pressure of thick muscle to display it in a visibly grotesque manner, before it's eyes narrowed. Bellowing again, it lowered its head before charging at the downed man, the thick skull and sharp horns turning him into a splatter of blood on the glass wall.

Pulling back it's head, the subject proceeded to alternate between punching and stomping the red paste that had once been a scientist, the red hue on it's chest increasing more and more.

It stopped mid-punch, staggering back before screaming in agony as steam emanated from its body. Soon enough it fell over to the side, dead.

While many people outside the view of the recording could be heard screaming, crying, sobbing or vomiting, the narrator spoke with little more than professional interest.

" _Test subject displayed an explosive case of hypertrophy, to the point of overstraining the likely increased flexibility and durability of its skin, and its behavior seemed to be wholly centered around violence. It was strong enough to easily pulp a human body with a single charge, and the various sensors in the ground and walls registered that each of it's blows delivered more than 1000 pounds of force, with said force ramping up overtime._

" _Unfortunately though, it seems as if the ramping up of its strength coincided with the exponential increase of its core temperature, which ultimately resulted in it burning to death from the inside out._

" _While this test was ultimately inconclusive, it_ does _constitute a notable leap in our research, providing the basis for the creation of a non-lethal version of the compound._

" _This is Doctor Malidus speaking, date: xx-xx-xxxx_ "

The click of a button shut off the recording, before Shindo refocused on the forms of the chairpersons present. He noted Shimizu's pale, trembling form with grim satisfaction, giving everyone a few seconds to recover, before speaking up.

"Strides have been made by our researchers, as you have seen, but the closer we get to the final results, the higher the costs jump. Even with the in-house agreements, we still spend veritable sums in technical equipment, materials, and many other such things."

" **How much would you need?** "

Everyone went silent at that, their gazes moving towards the head of the table, to a computer screen displaying a skull crossed over with a sword, a heavily modulated voice coming through one of it's speakers. Whomever this speaker was, the mere conveyance of its voice through a computer was enough to have the rest of the 'upper tiers' of society respectfully silent, some of them even flinching or cowering from the computer.

Shindo, not one to mince words and showing no fear of the speaker, spoke up.

"Double, maybe triple of the budget currently allocated to the project."

"WHAT!?"

"PREPOSTEROUS!"

"LUNACY!"

"ARE YOU INSAN-"

" **The new funds will be in the project account in 2 to 3 days.** "

"Understood."

With the conversation finished, the screen went dark, the person previously behind it considering the conversation up and done with.

"Are there any more matters that require our attention?" Shimizu said.

Shindo responded with a shake of his head, prompting the woman to nod towards him with grudging respect, before leaving the meeting room at a pace that clearly displayed to him just how much she wished to run from there.

The boardroom emptied over the following minutes while Shindo organized his various physical and electronic materials. He opened his briefcase to slip his documents into, only for his gaze to fall on an old photograph.

He took the photograph into his hands, a photograph showing a happier, younger version of himself, ear-length black hair, lively, amber-hued eyes, a straight, 'handsome' nose and thin, smiling lips, with stubble on his chin; next to him was a woman, slender body clad in a white dress, orange-red hair, with a smattering of freckles on the bridge of her small, button-nose. She had a close-eyed smile on her face, though if her eyes were open, one would easily notice the fact that they were emerald green in color. Her pink lips were naturally shaped in a cupid-bow that many paid plastic surgeons small fortunes to achieve, and she had a beauty mark just below her lips.

Between the two of them was a young girl of age 6 or so, her hair being red in a hue just slightly darker than her mother's, her eyes having the shape of his, though the color was an exact match for the mother's. She had a few freckles atop her small, button nose, and her mouth was spread into an enormous smile, showing the fact that one of her front teeth were missing.

Shindo's finger trailed along the face of his wife, his tone reverent as he muttered.

" _You were always so radiant, Lilah..._ "

That reverence turned into murderous hatred as he spoke.

" _Until those_ ** _Freaks_** _took you away from me... From US... Kayoko... She cried for weeks on end after you were gone._ "

His breath hitched for an instant as his mind went back to the video he had shown the people in the room.

" _The things I've done... I'm sure you would've hated them. You would've been disgusted by them, by me, but... If it means that I can keep the best gift you've ever given me... Our baby girl... Safe... Then I wouldn't mind becoming the world's enemy._ "

Closing his eyes and taking a fortifying breath, Shindo finished packing his case before making his way out of the office. He stopped at the door, his fist clenched as he spoke with conviction.

" _I will protect humanity, no matter the cost!_ ** _HUMANITAS_**!"

He flicked the lights off before leaving the room, the last sliver of light that trickled into it being swallowed entirely by darkness as the door was closed.

* * *

"HAH!"

Issei exhaled noisily as he bench-pressed a steel girder, his teeth gritted and his bare chest covered in sweat. Seated atop a cement cylinder a few feet beside him, Lilith watched her boyfriend pushing himself hard. Since he didn't bother trying to hide his emotions from her, trusting her not to pry into real private matters, Lilith was used to constantly feeling his superficial emotions - and appreciating the bursts of affection he sent her way whenever he noticed her looking - and she didn't know what to do about the emotions she could detect at this moment.

She could feel stubborn pride, mixed with assertiveness, a protective feeling centered primarily on her... But she could also feel a deep anger, something somewhat akin to hatred, except... Not. It wasn't hatred. She wasn't even 100% _sure_ it was anger. However, it was similar to both. Feeling such conflicting emotions from someone usually as straightforward as Issei... And worse, feeling these complicated emotions on the surface of his thoughts, rather than at a deeper layer... Lilith was worried about her boyfriend. Deciding that she had to do something, she spoke up.

"Issei."

The brunet - with a single purple bang - finished the last 3 reps of his workout of the morning before tossing the girder aside, his eyes noticing the indents on the steel around the areas he had gripped.

He lifted himself up from the stack of girders he had dragged into place to act as a bench, using his tank top to wipe the sweat off of his body as he turned his focus entirely onto Lilith.

The succubus managed to - with some difficulty - ignore the delectable sight of his body, clearing her throat before speaking up.

"Is there something wrong, Issei? Something that you may wish to talk about?"

The young man blinked at the question, his arm still moving the tank top around his body as he wiped himself from the sweat, an attempt at gaining some time to think.

He wrung the top dry, wrinkling his nose at the amount of sweat that came out, before putting his sweat suit's jacket back on, settling on carrying the top by hand. Taking in a deep breath, he turned towards Lilith, his gaze meeting hers as he spoke.

"I'm thinking about something that happened at school."

Seeing the curious and interested tilt of the head Lilith favored him with, Issei sighed out loud, before speaking up.

"There's this guy at school... Well, myself, Motohama, Matsuda, Aika, and Akeno were just relaxing together during lunch period, talking and joking, until this jerkass shows up. He starts saying some tripe about 'lady' this, and 'fiend' that, and I pretty much brushed it off.

"That is, until he mentioned you. The bastard said that he'd **_take you from me_**."

Lilith felt a chill running down her spine at Issei's dark tone, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from jumping him and interrupting their moment. Unaware of her thoughts, Issei kept speaking.

"When he said that, I felt like _**breaking all of his bones and grinding him into dust. Rending him down to the base components of his body before disintegrating him with the awesome power of thunder and lightning**._"

The pressure that Issei was putting out was extremely intense, and to most people around it would have lead to them going down to their knees, a crushing weight akin to multiplied gravity keeping them there. To Lilith, however, it felt like a warm blanket wrapping around her and filling every part of her. Her horns manifested themselves, as did her tail, while she bit down on her lip, her mind forcing her thighs still lest they rub together.

The brunette's eyes lost their intensity in an instant, the pressure disappearing so suddenly that Lilith's emotions suffered whiplash. She shook her head clear of the fuzz, refocusing on her pensive-looking boyfriend.

Issei let out a weary breath, before speaking again.

"However... It feels wrong. I mean, this guy, Motoyasu... He's a complete Jerkass. An asshole. That's a fact.

"But he's not a monster. He's not someone who warrants _taking care of_ in a more permanent basis."

He leaned back onto the bright yellow cement cylinder with his arms crossed, brow furrowed thoughtfully as he spoke.

"I'm feeling really confused. I wholeheartedly want to beat the crap outta him. Part of me wants to go further than just that though, while my rational mind knows that it would be beyond the line."

" **Isn't the problem obvious?** "

Both Issei and Lilith looked down at the back of his left hand, a green glow appearing there while Ddraigs voice made itself heard.

" **Your human side and your dragon side are in a disagreement. Your human self wants to beat him up and thinks that's enough, but your dragon self wants to eliminate a threat in a permanent manner, to make an example out of him for any future challengers**."

"What?" Issei said in a surprised tone "But that guy is nowhere near a real threat! He's an annoyance at worst!"

"But you can't help but equate him to a threat."

Issei turned towards Lilith, while the girl felt as if Ddraigs attention, too, had shifted onto her.

"I think that you're still raw from what happened to me. The whole situation with... _Travis._ "

The way Lilith said that name was as if she had been spitting out raw sewage, while the thoughts that ran through Issei's mind in response to it were things that, if exteriorized, would have led to a standing ovation for Issei from the spanish inquisition. Unheeding of this, she spoke on.

" _Travis_ , no matter how much we may wish not to acknowledge it, and regardless of how much you currently outclass him, actually posed a credible threat. He managed to kidnap me on home turf, in the presence of yourself, my mother, Xinthia and Luxurian soldiers.

"He had proper infrastructures built to qualify as a lair, with even henchmen of various types and hired mercs.

"According to what my mother told me of the end result of the whole thing, he apparently had some sort of benefactor that organized all of these things for him, plus a mutant monster empowered with a relic of an old god, then used said relic to possess his former henchwoman turned enemy, summoned a blood god, and then empowered himself to ultimate class.

"He was _dangerous_ , and we both know it. This Motoyasu person is nowhere near as dangerous as him, yet what he said created a link between the two in your mind.

"Part of you is projecting _Travis_ onto him, while the rest of you knows how much of a ridiculous premise this is, and is rejecting the knee-jerk reaction of obliterating him."

Issei's eyes widened as things clicked into place. The reason why he went from amused to annoyed, and then jumped instantly to apoplectic was because he drew parallels between the Jerkass and the Monster.

Lilith kept on.

"We both know you, though, Issei. You're not the type of person who will give an asshole the same treatment you would a monster."

The brunet exhaled at that, his tense shoulders relaxing as he turned a smile towards the purplette.

"Ain't your opinion of me a little bit too high?"

Smiling cheerfully, the girl answered with a "Nope!", popping the 'p' for emphasis.

Chuckling, Issei pulled Lilith into a hug, his head resting atop her own. He enjoyed the softness of her body, and the way she wrapped her arms around him.

" **Guess it's time for me to go, before I'm forced to watch the two of you humping one-another**."

Ddraigs words broke the magic of the moment, causing the two to separate with sheepish smiles, before Lilith tweaked her nose, her voice as noticeably teasing as the smirk on her face as she spoke.

"You _really_ need a shower."

Issei responded by pelting the girl with his dirty tank top, which elicited a yelp from Lilith, before running away from her and towards his home, loud, exaggerated cackling following after.

The purplette chased after him in mock anger, waving her fist in the air in exaggerated motions. Inside, however, she was smiling. Seeing her boyfriend unburdened by conflicting emotions as a consequence of her words and actions made her feel much better.

Truth is, Lilith herself had some negative feelings from the whole Travis thing. While most of her problems were quite easily overcome with plenty of loving from Issei, and the company of her mother, Xinthia and Jackie/Hylda, the true thing that stuck with her was just how _useless_ she felt during that whole thing.

She was unable to do anything other than wait for Issei to rescue her, and while she was right in her _absolute certainty_ that Issei would be there to save her, she still felt... Useless. Powerless. Especially when she heard about Jackie/Hyldas contribution to the 'Lilith Rescuing' effort.

She never again wanted to feel as helpless as she did during that time period. She had talked to her mother and Xinthia, and the two of them had helped her improve in certain aspects that she was now confident in, despite the fact that they were unneeded so far - after all, it is better to have but not need, than to need but not have - however, the knowledge that she could help ease Issei's burdens, however slight they were, made her extremely happy, and proud of herself.

She was not going to be a burden. She was not going to be left behind. She would stand right beside her man, as would the rest of his harem.

 _She would make sure of it_.

* * *

"If that's such a big problem, then why don't you just move out?"

"Because, Jun... Actually, yeah, why _don't_ you move out?"

Issei, clad in his work apron, gave both Jun and Kuno, the two guys that were talking to him, an unamused look, before speaking in a slow tone one would use to explain things to children.

"Because moving out costs _money_."

Kuno snorted at that, putting down his beer before responding.

"What're you complaining over money about? I spend enough time here to know you're making an absolute _killing_ off of tips alone, especially whenever some guy has their girlfriend around and wants to look richer to her by tossing around stacks.

"Plus, Ginei gave me a general estimate about his pay, which wasn't anywhere _near_ insignificant, and you've been working overtime on the weekends.

"You may not be _rich_ rich, but you're definitely rolling in the dough. Hell, based on my estimates, you earn more than the average middle-class family, all on your own!"

Jun, and more than a handful of patrons who were completely unaware of just how much money Issei was making, turned towards the brunet - with a purple bang - in tandem, wide-eyed and gaping-mouthed, while Issei 'lightly' bonked Kuno across the head with the plastic tray, before responding.

"The only reason why you think the money I have is enough is because your aspirations are nowhere near as high as my own."

Issei leaned back onto a table, a flame igniting behind his eyes as he spoke, his voice full of conviction.

"I have a dream! I dream of the most magnificent harem in the history of humanity, one with a proper balance between number and quality, where each and every member shares their heart fully and equally with myself, and with one-another!

"A real family, created with a basis on bonds of affection, both emotional and physical, and consolidated on the basis of the _Marital Arts_!

"However, for this dream to be fulfilled, certain conditions have to be met! Amongst these conditions there is an appropriate living space, a home wherein everyone can choose to perform any activities they wish to together, while still having the ability and possibility of carving out their own niche for privacy, and their alone time!

"A home where comfort and entertainment are mutually assured, in various forms!

"Pools! Jacuzzis! Sports fields! Gardens! Large front and backyards! A large home with many bedrooms! Media room! Games room! Garage! Pool! Home gym and spa!

"A home that can host visitors, and a home that you can raise however many children you wish to have in!

"My dream... Is to build myself... THE _**PLAYDRAGON MANSION**!_"

By the end of his speech, Issei found himself winded, his chest heaving as he regained his breath.

Then, the clapping started.

It was slow at first, but soon enough, the majority of the people in the bar, primarily the single people, were giving Issei a massive ovation, with a few even shedding emotional tears.

Many of these men once had aspirations as high as Issei's, dreams of large homes and harems. Life, however, took it away from many of them. Many things happened that ended up taking that drive, that flame from within them, to make them see the _True Harem Plan_ as nothing more than an Utopia, an unachievable dream in a cruel world that did its best to chew on the hopeful and optimistic, and spit them out as jaded individuals.

Issei, however, was unlike them. Issei had within him a flame, a fire that burnt strong, pushing him ever further towards his goal. No fear. No hesitation. To him, the _True Harem Plan_ was more than just a far off fantasy, something that men achieved only within the best of their dreams, the ones which would result in pangs of loss once they were lost to the cruel realities of the waking world.

To Issei, it was ' ** _Harem or Die_** ', and Issei sure as hell didn't plan on dying soon.

The brunet, winding down from his passionate speech, kept on explaining his thought process.

"You guys understand what I wish to achieve, no? And I'm sure you understand just how much money it will cost me. Just buying a plot of land big enough will cost me a small fortune!

"Deposit check. Utilities. Furniture. Internet. Telephone coverage. Food costs. Laundry costs. Miscellaneous day to day things, such as napkins, paper towels, towels proper. Hygiene products such as soap, shampoo, and so on and so forth.

"Each and every one of these things would be an added expense to be paid. An expense that I don't have to deal with for as long as I live with my parents.

"That is why I don't move out right now. My wallet is nowhere near prepared for the effort."

Jun, wiping tears of emotion from his face, slapped two 10,000 Yen notes on the table before calling out.

"Dragon-san! Please get me a beer, and keep the change!"

The same phenomenon occurred throughout the rest of the bar, the many hardened delinquents, criminals and yakuza being deeply moved by the boy's determination to achieve his noble dream. In a move of solidarity, they made cheap orders while paying with absurd amounts just to help the young man reach his full potential.

Issei did not miss this, emotional tears building up in the corner of his eyes as he took everyone's orders, a massive smile on his face as he did.

Behind the counter, Andre could only chuckle lightly as he wiped a glass dry.

"Those absolute idiots."

Daichi, who was close enough to listen to his uncle, pretended not to see as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye while mumbling about dust getting into his eye.

Once again, love and harems resulted in the best of mankind showing itself.

* * *

"I hope you're ready to get the asskicking of your life, Hyoudou!"

Issei and Motoyasu stood across each other, both clad in Karate gi - Issei only as per the instructions of Tsubaki, who had been elected as the referee - with Motoyasu proudly displaying his black belt, while Issei had a white belt shoved into his hands by another of the Karate club members, likely an attempt at demoralizing him, a rudimentary mind game.

Issei however, completely shrugged it off, focusing more on properly putting on his gi, taping his hands up, and putting on the sparring gloves he had been given.

They had been offered headgear as well, but both of them refused it for the exact same reason, funnily enough.

Neither of them felt as if they needed it.

Only one of them was right, though. Guess which one it is.

Their battle was originally meant to occur in the Karate clubs dojo, however, the student turnout rate was much too high, so they ended up moving the fight to the auditorium, laying down some padding in the middle of the structure so that everyone could see the action properly.

Tsubaki, the referee, was discussing something with Sona in hushed tones, while each of the fighters got ready using their own methods.

Motoyasu shadowboxed, executing some of his most complex blows, once again, in an attempt at pressuring Issei due to his lack of Martial Arts education.

If only he knew that Issei only lacked **_formal_** Martial Arts training, then perhaps things could have gone differently.

The brunet - with a single purple bang - for his part simply did a few basic stretches, limbering and loosening himself up for the fight to come.

He could hear Motohama, Matsuda, surprisingly enough, Aika, and, even more surprising, Akeno, shouting at him to 'Kick the crap out of that bottle-blond jerk!'. Smirking in amusement, Issei sent a thumbs up their way, before Tsubaki moved towards the center of the mat, signaling the crowd to go silent, and getting everybody's focus to turn towards her.

"This match, which was originally meant to be an unsanctioned brawl between two students of Kuoh, has been turned into a legitimate one in order to minimize the health risks to those involved.

"In order for this to be achieved, a number of conditions and rules have been set.

"This match finishes when either fighter reaches 10 points, or forces the other into unconsciousness, or submission.

"Points are gained via successful, significantly-damaging blows. Regular blows grant one point, while critical blows grant two. I, as the referee, will be keeping track of the points. I will dictate whether a blow is significant enough to count as a point, and what blows count as regular or critical.

"Other than these basic conditions, the fight stops if I say it stops.

"Have the fighters understood?"

Motoyasu nodded at Tsubaki while Issei gave her a thumbs up, prompting the girl to raise her hands.

"Fighters ready?"

Motoyasu nodded, leaning onto the balls of his feet, while Issei simply stood there, relaxed, his face relaxed, his gaze fixed onto Motoyasu searchingly, as if he were trying to find the answer to something or another.

"Fight."

Motoyasu shot off towards Issei barely a second after Tsubaki took a step back and let her hands fall, leading off with a right punch.

Issei watched the motion that was, by most human metrics, fast, yet it felt... Slow. To him, the blond looked as if he were wading through molasses.

Issei reacted by leaning his head to the side, allowing the fist to travel past his face.

Motoyasu, for his part, didn't hesitate. He pulled his right fist back even as he shot off his left one, trying to use his still-outstretched right arm to keep Issei's head trapped while his left one went on a direct course with the brunet's face.

His eyes lit up with glee as he watched his fist moving forward, barely a finger's length away from smashing into Issei's nose.

' _First poin-!_ '

He, more than anyone else, was surprised when his fist hit nothing, causing him to overbalance. Issei, who had crouched, tapped Motoyasu's leg just hard enough to cause him to take a small tumble onto the mat.

However, neither Issei's tap, nor Motoyasu's fall were significant enough to warrant a point.

Motoyasu hopped back to his feet, humiliation-caused anger flaring within his eyes as they settled on the still relaxed Issei.

Motoyasu's pride was hurt twice over by Issei, once due to the fact that the brunette caused him to take such a pitiful fall, and twice because he did not capitalize on it.

' _It's as if he doesn't even consider me a threat!_ '

Coincidentally enough, that was the truth of the matter.

Motoyasu shot off towards Issei again, releasing a barrage of punches and kicks that the majority of the watching student body found terrifying, that even members of both the Karate club, and other combat sports would consider fierce, however Issei reacted by simply dodging each and every one of them.

Punch? Dodged.

Kick? Dodged.

Feint? Anticipated, real strike dodged.

No matter what sort of move or combination Motoyasu used, Issei simply dodged all of them with the utmost ease, an almost bored look in his eyes.

Motoyasu, humiliated both as a man and as a martial artist, decided to try to hurt Issei with his words.

"What's the matter, Hyoudou? Why don't you do anything other than dodge? Are you only good at running away? Are you a coward?"

His taunting riled up the other students, causing them to jeer at Issei. The jeering gave him some of his confidence back, causing a smile to spread out on his face. He opened his mouth, intent on continuing-

"Nothing you've done so far has convinced me to actually attack you. It'd be a waste of effort."

The crowd was silenced in an instant, while Issei's own group cheered loudly. Akeno, always a fan of sadism and humiliation, thoroughly enjoyed this.

Motoyasu, on the other hand, did not enjoy it. Not even a little bit.

You could measure how much he didn't enjoy the joke simply by looking at him, as you'd notice how hard he was gritting and grinding his teeth, his eyes wide and wild, and his fists shaking in anger.

"YOU BASTARD!"

He threw himself at Issei, completely overlooking his flashy and complex moves in order to focus his complete strength, speed, and savagery on simple, more reliable moves.

Unfortunately for him, Issei kept dodging, showing literally no intent to counter him, which just made him angrier.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN SCUM! PERVERTED SCUM, NOT FIT TO TASTE THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOES! SCUM LIKE YOU ARE MEANT TO FALL TO COOL GUYS LIKE ME! THAT'S HOW THINGS ARE! THAT'S HOW THE WORLD WORKS!"

His rant had effectively silenced the entirety of the school once again, while his disparaging comments about Issei drew pronounced negative expressions from some. Motohama and Matsuda shouted out threats, Aika constantly and continuously casting aspersions over his manhood, and Akeno smiling at him.

 _ **Menacingly**._

Even Sona could barely contain her frown at that.

Issei, for his part, kept dodging at a wholly unconcerned pace, his face as calm as that of someone enjoying a summer breeze on their front porch.

"FIGHT ME, YOU COWARD! STOP RUNNING AWAY! STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME, GODDAMNIT!"

Aika noticed the way that Akeno jumped lightly when Motoyasu said the last word, but she simply shrugged it off and refocused on the 'fight'.

Issei, completely ignoring Motoyasu's words, kept dodging every blow from him.

"A COWARD LIKE YOU DOESN'T GET TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND! I'LL SHOW THAT GIRL OF YOURS A REAL MA-"

Motoyasu was interrupted by a slap to the face.

It wasn't a hard slap. It didn't instantly knock him out, or even down. It was simply hard enough to cause him to freeze in surprise, as well as everyone else in the room.

Motoyasu raised his hand to his face, showing complete disbelief at the fact that he had just been _slapped on the face_ , while Issei simply kept watching him.

Tsubaki, noticing that the slap didn't really do much more than stun Motoyasu, and that Issei seemed to deliberately not go for a follow through, decided that it wasn't significant enough to warrant a point, especially when Issei's slap was performed while wearing a padded glove that made it hard to properly splay his hand for a slap, with added tape underneath as extra padding.

"HOW DARE Y-"

Motoyasu found himself interrupted by another slap.

"RAAAAGHHH!"

He cried out in anger, dashing at Issei in an attempt at delivering a high kick, only for Issei to dodge... And smack him on the face.

Again and again this pattern repeated, Motoyasu getting angrier and angrier, while Issei dodged and countered with a slap to the face, all being watched by a silent audience.

Soon enough, Issei seemed to get bored of the whole ordeal, sighing out loud before speaking up.

"Okay, here's the deal. I got really, really angry at you when you said those things you did. It was wrong of me to do so. Stupid as well. You don't get mad at the bird for flying, do you? Do you get mad at the mouse for scurrying?

"Do you get mad at the worm for writhing in the earth?"

Motoyasu's face got redder and redder with each word Issei said, even as Akeno's eyes got more and more glazed.

"No, you don't get mad at them for doing those things, because that's just what they do. It's in their nature, who and what they are.

"And what _you_ are... Is envious of me. However, it is quite natural.

"I'm smarter than you. I'm better-looking than you. I'm stronger than you. I am constantly surrounded by loyal friends and beautiful women.

"I talked to Lilith, my girlfriend, about this, and she made me understand that I don't hate you.

"No. The only thing that I can feel for someone like you... _Is Pity_."

By now Akeno was all but drooling, her hungry gaze locked completely onto Issei.

Sona, on the other hand, was off in her imagination world, watching as a roguishly dashing, sparkle-surrounded Issei looked down upon a less-handsome, and not at all sparkling evil knight from another kingdom, delivering the same speech to him.

Motoyasu's emotions, on the other hand, were completely different. His fury had reached an all time high. Fueled by raw, burning anger, he threw himself at Issei with a clenched, pulled back fist, forgetting about his years of training and his black belt.

Issei, however, had other plans.

He had finally managed to understand what he felt towards Motoyasu after watching him flailing helplessly against him, with the conversation he had with Ddraig and Lilith in the back of his mind, so he decided to close this very minor, almost insignificant chapter in the book of his life.

Before Motoyasu had travelled half the distance originally between the two of them, Issei had already appeared within his guard.

He managed to notice the shock in Motoyasu's eyes overriding his anger, before he struck.

Punch to the chest, one point.

Rising palm strike to the chin, one point.

Kick to the knee, one point, with the bonus of causing Motoyasu to fall down to said knee.

Pulling him into a clinch, Issei kneed his face hard, twice. Two points apiece.

Knee to the gut, one point.

He then finished by gripping Motoyasu's gi by the chest and shoulder, planting his feet before pulling with his arms, turning with his waist, twisting his hips, and pulling the blond's body over his shoulder in a perfect rendition of a shoulder toss, slamming him into the mat hard enough to knock the breath out of him, and causing his eyes to swim groggily.

"Match! Victory, Hyoudou!"

A few moments of silence passed through the entire auditorium, various people reacting to the end result of the fight in different ways.

Motohama, Matsuda and Aika unreservedly cheered Issei on, with Aika singing praises about his manliness.

Akeno looked at the brunet - with a single purple bang - the same way a hungry lioness looked at a baby gazelle, only with even _more_ drool and chop-licking involved, which was only hidden due to her placing her sleeve atop her mouth. That didn't do anything about her eyes, though.

Sona's imaginary version of Issei gained even more sparkles around it, the previously indistinct purple background with blooming roses gaining new patterns, and the roses becoming animated, blooming in a looped fashion.

Rias felt simultaneously as if her opinion on the similarities between Issei and... _Him_... were confirmed, while being forced to acknowledge his fighting skills as extremely impressive for a human. She couldn't help but think to herself about how strong he would be if he were a devil. Said thought planted an idea within her mind.

' _Perhaps I could!... No, no. I'll keep track of him, try to keep it as a possible option, but as a last resort. Yes, that makes sense._ '

Issei looked down on the defeated Motoyasu, before speaking.

"Motoyasu. Right now... You're weak. I don't mean combat-wise. While I may be stronger than you, you're still a _black-belt at 15_. No. What I mean by you being weak is the fact that you're lazy and spiteful.

"You see someone in a position that is better than yours, and rather than trying to get better to catch up with, or overcome them, you do the opposite.

"You envy them, you try to drag them down to the same level as yourself, so that you can try to steal the parts of them that you love for yourself.

"But you can be better than that, Motoyasu. You just need to admit to your faults, and work on changing them."

Having said that, Issei stretched a hand out for Motoyasu, while the auditorium held its breath.

Motoyasu looked at Issei's hand blankly, before his face contorted into a sneer as he slapped it away.

Sighing, Issei spoke.

"Your choice, Motoyasu. But do remember. I've already dealt with you once. If you try to come after me and mine..."

Motoyasu, who was meeting Issei's gaze straight-on, saw what seemed to be a mirage, a massive pair of green eyes suspended behind Issei, with a massive maw full of wicked teeth right below them, spread in a facsimile of a grin towards him.

" _ **I will hurt you**._"

The mirage disappeared as fast as it had appeared, while Issei turned his back on Motoyasu and started walking towards the exit, the crowd parting for him like the red sea.

After his display, no one, not even his friends, took the initiative to follow after him, all of them still taking in the events that had occurred.

* * *

"HAH!"

Once again, Issei found himself in the abandoned construction site, punching steel girders.

The small spat he had with Motoyasu had been unsatisfactory, so he decided to release some tension by beating the crap out of construction equipment.

Exhaling after the latest steel-denting blow of his, Issei's eyes narrowed as he felt more than heard a small breeze flowing through the construction site.

 ** _*BOOM!*_**

Issei watched the smoke cloud from the area he vacated in a bout of high-speed movement slowly dissipating. He spotted a set of furrows dug into the ground, before his eyes moved towards the shadows of unfinished building.

"So, you're the one who's been stalking me this whole week huh?"

 ** _-Chapter, End!-_**


	22. Gods, Assassins and Dragons, oh my!

_**Hey there folks! Guess who's still alive!?**_

 _ **This guy!**_

 _ **I've been away for quite a while, if you're reading this then you know that. Between my school, gym, social life and other day-to-day activities, it's not uncommon for me to go for a while without updating. This time, however, the time interval was bigger than usual by a wide margin.**_

 _ **The reason for that is rather than being subjected simply to those things I spoke about in the previous paragraph, or other things that have occurred to me before such as equipment malfunction or the ever common writer's block, I had to actually deal with something else altogether, an injury.**_

 _ **I burnt my left hand with scalding water.**_

 _ **It was not life threatening, nor was it TOO serious, fortunately, but the time I took to recover from the burns and to be able to properly use my hand, when put together with my day-to-day life issues just slowed me down further.**_

 _ **I've already recovered fully, thankfully enough, and I'm writing now. I intended to release this update last week, as I said in a post on my Pat reon, but that too got somewhat delayed. I've finally managed to sit down in front of a screen and keyboard for writing purposes, however, and this is the result of it.**_

 _ **Before the chapter starts, however, I will do what I've been doing for a while now, and that is to thank the people that have been supporting me.**_

 _ **I would like to thank darkistorrik, Jarod, Joshua Garrett and Tyric Gaia for support given to me in the form of monetary contributions. I would also like to thank any and every person that takes the time out of their lives to read my stories, and for any engagement between said people and either me or my story that goes beyond mere flames.**_

 _ **That appreciation goes both to those who declare their enjoyment of the story and myself as its author, and to those who give criticism in the belief that it may help me improve in my writing.**_

 _ **If you feel willing and capable of supporting me monetarily as well, you are able to do so by making a donation via Pat reon ( Pat reon -dot- com -slash- francogamerxz ).**_

 _ **With all of that explained, onwards to the story!**_

* * *

 _ **-In the last chapter-**_

 _"HAH!"_

 _Once again, Issei found himself in the abandoned construction site, punching steel girders._

 _The small spat he had with Motoyasu had been unsatisfactory, so he decided to release some tension by beating the crap out of construction equipment._

 _Exhaling after the latest steel-denting blow of his, Issei's eyes narrowed as he felt more than heard a small breeze flowing through the construction site._

 _ ***BOOM!***_

 _Issei watched the smoke cloud from the area he vacated in a bout of high-speed movement slowly dissipating. He spotted a set of furrows dug into the ground, before his eyes moved towards the shadows of unfinished building._

 _"So, you're the one who's been stalking me this whole week huh?"_

* * *

 _ **-Now-**_

"Heh, you actually _were_ able to notice me... _Kehkehkehkeh_ ~"

Issei's head turned towards the shadows from which the annoying, click like laugh sounded, his eyes half-lidded almost lazily as he responded.

"I'm neither blind, deaf, nor spatially unaware."

" _Hoh~_ ," Issei's stalker sounded out amusedly "That's a rarity for humans nowadays. Most of them are so used to their safe, cushy, comfortable lives that they lost the edge that rough living gave them. Back in the day, when you humans started poking at one-another with metal toothpicks – _you called them katana, I believe_ _–_ even civilians were several times more focused and aware of their surroundings.

"The slightest hint of danger had them running to find safety, as was smart.

"You, however, while possessing the awareness, seem to lack the survival instinct."

The owner of the voice moved after that, taking slow, relaxed steps out of the shadow that previously concealed it, revealing itself to Issei.

The image that met the Hyoudou youth was that of a young adult, likely in their low twenties, wearing nothing less than a dark blue, kimono. The man was about the same height as Issei, though he was of a slighter build, having narrower shoulders and an overall less toned build.

He also had black fuzz in place of skin, six blood-red eyes spread around his face, no nose, and a very large, very sharp-looking pair of pincers in place of a mouth. Said pincers gleamed with a light green tint, and the upper part of them moved as the... _Man_... spoke.

"I mean, most humans would notice something dangerous constantly stalking them in the shadows and they'd try to run and hide," the man _stalked_ , for the way he moved could not be described as 'just walking', all of his six eyes on Issei as he spoke mockingly "Not you, though. You just let things go on as they did. Saying nothing. Doing nothing. Seeking no help. So I have to ask, why?"

The brunet, his gaze still half-lidded and his posture slack in a manner belying his focus, shrugged, the answer slipping between his lips almost involuntarily.

"I didn't feel threatened."

The spider person stopped for all of an instant before he resumed his stalking, his voice derisive as he spoke.

"You didn't feel threatened, hmm? Immense idiocy, or just a lack of survival instinct?... Though, it is often considered that the second one marks the difference between the idiots, and everybody else... _Kehkehkehkehkeh~_ "

"I simply felt you were not an actual threat."

" _Kehkehkehkeh~_ " the spider person seemed to be absolutely full of mirth as he spoke "So not only are you an idiot with a lack of a survival instinct, but you're also an _arrogant_ idiot with a lack of a surv-"

He was interrupted by a sudden and extremely painful case of 'Foot to the face' syndrome, which had him flying uncontrollably for a couple of seconds. He seemed to recover midair, his previous journey to becoming a stain on a wall interrupted when he caught a wall with the palm of his hand, sticking to it, before swinging his body so that his feet landed on the wall as well giving him stability, while placing his free hand atop his head, fighting back the disorientation from the hit of the person he was currently glaring at.

Said person shrugged, before speaking up.

"Told you. You weren't a threat."

The spider person hissed angrily at the nonchalant form of Issei, while said brunet young man stayed seemingly fully relaxed.

"You _will_ regret that, _human!_ "

Having said that, the spider person threw himself towards Issei at a speed even peak humans should be unable to perceive, with the brunet responding by hopping backwards, allowing the attacker to slam into the ground hard enough to crack it underneath him, a cloud of dust covering the area.

A blur shot out of the dust cloud and towards Issei, before a pair of hands struck out in the form of many consecutive palm strikes against the brunet, who reacted by continuously dodging his opponent.

Moving to dodge a palm strike meant for his chest, Issei felt himself taking a jarring halt as his right foot stuck to the ground. Unable to keep dodging due to his lack of balance, he reacted by slapping the incoming palm strike aside, watching as a pair of very sharp, dagger-length talons emerged from the underside of the spider guy's wrists, meant to impale him.

Issei responded by punching at the enemy, only for it to move away from him as if he had been yanked back.

' _He was overbalanced due to the deflected blows, there's no way he could have jumped back..._ '

He proceeded to jerk his right foot free from whatever it was that kept it stuck to the ground, poking it with the tip of his finger even while allowing his other senses to keep track of the enemy.

' _White, sticky and thick... Man, were the context different than a life-threatening battle then I'd be really worried._ '

Issei's inner monologue cut out as he jumped out of the way of a steel girder that had been about to fall right atop his head.

He had to move again as another girder fell – _vertically_ _–_ where he had been standing, not squishing him flat due to him moving, before he dashed towards the source of the steel girders, the spider person.

He let loose a right straight which was dodged with barely any trouble, before going for a sweeping kick that was jumped over by the enemy, who retaliated by loosing a double kick towards Issei's face, which was blocked with a single forearm.

Issei swung his arm hard in an attempt at dislodging the enemy, only for the spider person to stick to it as if he were standing on solid ground. He moved in an instant, bending over backwards almost to the point of folding, the spider person let loose with his talons, attempting to skewer Issei's thighs, only for a knee to the face to dissuade him of those intentions, and of the intention to stay stuck to the brunet.

Stepping in hard, Issei let a hook fly that would have at least shattered the enemy's skull, only for it to be dodged completely. He adjusted his stance, allowing a consecutive series of punches flow, only for them to be dodged in almost their entirety, with a handful grazing him.

This was responded to by a low sweep had Issei falling on his side, before the spider jumped high, both his talons exposed as if they were a pair of hidden blades of some sort, both aimed at skewering his vitals, one for the lungs, the other for the spine.

The brunet rolled out of the way and retaliated with a hurried kick which the spider was forced to block rather than dodge, leaving the assassin with a pained grimace and a swollen arm.

Kicking himself up into a standing position, Issei attempted to stomp on his enemy, only for him to roll out of the way. He kept doing this repeatedly , forcing the spider to roll further and further, however, before Issei could attack the other properly, and before the spider reached the perimeter wall between the construction site and the outside world, he once more vanished as if he had been yanked away, this time into the shadows of the half-built building.

' _I need to find out how he's doing that..._ '

Closing his eyes, Issei focused his senses in order to try to detect his enemy, only for a whistling sound to reach his ears, forcing him to jump aside as, once again, a steel girder fell vertically where he was previously standing.

This girder was followed up on by many, many others, each of them raising a bigger and bigger cloud of dust, until Issei was fully obscured by it.

' _This doesn't make sense... His full-strength double-kick wasn't strong enough to break my single-armed guard, yet he's strong enough to rapidly toss a bunch of steel girders around, which he knows I'll be easily able to dodge... What's he playing at?_ '

By the time the dust cloud had disappeared, Issei was in what looked like a veritable forest of girders, with the falling angle of the sun causing the structure to be all but steeped in darkness.

" _Kehkehkehkehkeh~_ "

Issei punched towards the source of the laugh, only for his fist to meet a girder with a loud bang. His senses told him the enemy had already moved.

" _Stupid human... Allowing me to set up the playing field..._ "

Issei moved around the forest of steel on the balls of his feet, ears wide open as he tried to locate the opponent.

" _Your death has already been confirmed... Kehkehkeh~_ "

The brunet rapidly unleashed a kick towards the source of the voice, his foot hitting only air, before his instinct had him throwing himself to the ground, a spindly, segmented shadow flying past his head and embedding itself within one of the girders, before being drawn back into the shadows.

He was then forced to roll out of the way of rapid and repeated thrusts from above, each of the piercing deeply into the ground before retreating extremely fast.

The brunet rolled back onto his feet, his hand patting his shoulder free of dirt with nothing more than absolute calm, his tone even as he spoke.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You. Are. Not. A. Threat."

This got another angry hiss from the spider dude, who spoke with poorly restrained anger.

" _That's it! I was going to slow, taking pity on a puny human such as yourself, but your arrogance begets punishment!_ "

In an instant, everything changed. A dark blur started darting around the forest of steel, bouncing off girder after girder at a dizzying speed. Issei's eyes tried keeping track of it, yet, in the dark as they were, he was unable to.

' _I'll just use_ _ **Nocturnal**_ _to... No! This is what I've been training for! I need to learn how to fight without revealing all my tricks! If I keep relying completely on overpowering the enemy, then I'll lose my fighting edge, and if I ever meet someone with more raw power than myself, I won't know what to do! I need to learn how to best fight and use my mind, be it at full strength, at base, or anywhere in-between!_ '

The blur seemed to abruptly change directions, flying towards Issei, taloned arms stretched out for a stab.

Rather than being caught onn the back foot and trying to either defend or retreat, Issei reacted by stepping into the oncoming attack, causing his opponent's eyes to widen in surprise, both of the talons previously aimed at killing he missing by a hair's breadth, before letting a fist fly towards the opponent's chest.

' _Got hi-!_ '

A smirk spread through the previously shocked face of the spider-person, before he suddenly flew away from the fist that had been about to defeat him, settling high amongst the vertical girders, an errant beam of the fading light hitting him, causing Issei's eyes to widen at the revealed image of his enemy.

Added to the already previously arachnid-inclined appearance of the attacker were four spindly limbs, segmented into three parts by round joints, and tipped with sharp, dagger-length, hook-like spines, two of the limbs resting along the shoulder blades, and the lower two being placed each on either side of the lower back region, all four of them supporting the smirking foe.

" _Kehkehkehkehkeh~_ " the clicking laugh filled the area, the sound bouncing off from the various obstacles in a particularly eerie manner, before the mouth-pincers started moving "I see that you have understood! Each of these limbs are much faster, stronger and more resilient than the rest of my body, each of them easily capable of moving fast enough to deflect bullets, hitting strong enough to break stone, and tipped with claws sharp enough to punch through steel! Now that they're out, there's no way you will survive! You are already dea-"

" **RENEGADE INTERRUPT!** "

The spider person's monologue was, once again, interrupted by a boot to the face, this time at a much greater speed than what had been shown before, causing him to slam into another of the steel girders before his spider legs stopped him properly.

"It was pretty nice of you to give me an estimation of how strong you are at full capacity. Now I know how much I need to put out to beat you."

Having said that, Issei _blurred_ , appearing within range of the spider guy and slamming a hard punch to his chest, causing him to fly backwards. This time though, rather than slamming into a girder full-strength, the spider guy shot two of his limbs into another one of the steel construction implements and swung himself around the girder in a circular manner in order to bleed off speed and momentum, landing on the girder feet-first, leaving his body parallel to the ground.

He was forced to jump away an instant later as Issei appeared in front of him mid-punch, his fist hitting the girder and, rather than simply making a loud noise and wobbling a bit, caused the whole thing to get dug out of its furrow, falling over onto the next girder and causing it to start toppling over as well.

The spider person swung himself rapidly around the various girders in an attempt at staying away from Issei, whose blows caused more and more of the girders surrounding them to topple like dominoes.

"Got you!"

Issei's hand managed to grab onto the back of the spider's kimono, his fist poised to take off it's head, when the two lower limbs turned towards the brunet and fired off a twin stream of webs hard enough to push him back into the middle of the rain of falling steel, before his upper ones shot a stream of web onto a parallel pair of girders, pulling them taught and slingshot himself out of the crashing death.

The entirety of the girders fell in, a cloud of dust filling the construction site as the spider person took the time to calm their shaking hands and soothe their nerves.

" _Kikh..._ That... That wasn't a normal human! He was much too strong! But... I've triumphed. It's the natural order of things... Even if it was closer than I'd like," The spider guy let out a sigh as he allowed himself to flop back-first onto the ground, before breathing out "When The Boss hears about this, he's going to up my training again..."

" 'The Boss', you say?"

The spider's head snapped towards the downed girders, his heart thumping heavily as his six eyes strained heavily in an attempt at discerning the slightest bit of movement. After several seconds of staring, the spider person finally allowed the tension to drain out of his body at the confirmed lack of movement.

' _This fight really screwed me up more than I expected..._ '

"And I can even hear the capitals in those words. How interesting."

One of the sharp limbs shot behind him hard enough to release a mild shock-wave, the hooked tip positioned in a way to punch through the target...

Only for Issei to effortlessly stop it just inches away from his face, the shock-wave of the sudden halting of the attack causing his hair to blow back, and his clothes to rustle.

Giving the downed enemy an unconcerned look, Issei spoke.

"I'm tired of calling you 'spider individual' in my head, so you are going to tell me your name, and then you will tell me about this boss of yours, and the reason behind your attack. Understand?"

Glaring at Issei with three pairs of blood red eyes, the spider would have looked much more menacing had it not been shaking life a leaf in the wind.

" _I_ -I'm telling you nothing, you hear me?! Nothing!"

The brunet chuckled lightly, releasing the straining limb which speedily retreated towards its owner, joining the other three in their defensive positions around their owner, the four of them pointed towards Issei.

"Oh, you _will_ tell me what I want to know. Of that I have no doubt. Now, the only thing that's left to be known is whether you're going to talk willingly, or if I'll have to get... _Serious_."

Pulling himself back together, the spider guy used his limbs to shakily get himself back to his feet, allowing the lower to to support his weight while his upper ones were pointed towards Issei.

"Stop fucking with me! You're just human! You're not supposed to be able to match me! You are meant to be below me in all aspects!" He looked back at all the fallen girders, his pincers trembling - _in anger? Frustration? Fear?_ \- as he raised a finger towards Issei "You even got buried in all of that! You were supposed to be dead! How did you even survive that?"

Issei looked towards the girders, his tone casual as he responded.

"Oh, that? I dug my way out of the stack. Now stop changing the subject, and tell me what I want to know... _Or else_."

"Or else," the spider spoke with contempt, and a face seemingly as close to a sneer as possible when one had pincers in place of a mouth and no eyebrows "Wha-!"

He was interrupted by a tight grip around his throat, causing him to choke, while his eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and terror.

" _Or else_ I will _**hurt you**_."

The four limbs shot towards Issei at point blank, each of them slamming into the brunet...

And stopping cold on his skin, none of them as much as scratching them, causing the terror that gripped the spider's heart to intensify further.

" _W-what... Are... You?_ " He wheezed haltingly through the choking grip.

Issei slightly loosened the tight hold he kept around his power, causing a strong wind to whip up around the two of them. A mirage formed itself behind him in the form of a massive pair of green, slit-pupiled eyes, with a massive maw of wickedly sharp dagger-like teeth , while the wind became stronger, rushing around the two of them noisily enough to sound like an increasingly louder growl, until it eventually became loud enough to be classed as a roar.

The brunet met the horrified spider's gaze with a sense of both cool confidence and unparalleled amusement, before speaking.

"Stronger than you."

The spider person reared back as if he had been slapped, while Issei kept on speaking.

"You're not bad at all. A mid-tier fighter, as far as direct combat goes, with a diverse set of skills and the brains to use them well, choosing to engage at a time period that is most advantageous to you and to change the field as soon as you felt it to be unfavorable to you.

" Using your web sparingly for purposes of immobilizing me at specific times that would allow you to get a critical hit in, with an exception for what you believed to be a killing blow, making full usage of the terrain around you to facilitate your fighting style, and keeping your extra limbs hidden, using yourself as a feint in order to strike from the blind spot using your spider limbs...

"Plus, I'm sure that there's some hidden skill, ability or technique that you have in your sleeve that you would have usually pulled out to finish the fight had I given you the time to... With all those things together, you should be capable of matching, and maybe even overwhelming a high-tier opponent in a one-on-one fight.

"Too bad I was your enemy this time around. The gulf between the two of us was just too big for someone with your 'holier than thou' attitude to cross."

Issei smirked at his captive audience at that, his sense of theatrics and desire to gloat coming from his voluntary loosening of his more draconic self's leash.

"Now, name?"

The spider shook his head with terror in his eyes, prompting Issei to toss him onto the ground, his face going fully blank as he pointed a finger towards his attacker, his dead tone backed by a barely noticeable tendril of _**Killing Intent**_.

" _Name._ "

 _ ***BZZT!***_

" _AIEEEEEEEEEE!"_

A flash of light was followed by a shriek of agony as Issei blasted his enemy with a small tendril of electricity. When he stopped his lightning, the target was lightly charred and steaming, but still alive enough for him to see the terror in his eyes.

"I find the act of torture very unpleasant, and doing it makes me feel very dirty. Using this level of violence on someone incapable of fighting back against you... That should be reserved for monsters wearing the faces of people, not some random goon such as yourself.

"Unfortunately for you, you happen to have information that could direct me towards a threat on my life, and, consequently, a threat on the lives of my precious people."

Issei's brows furrowed at that, a shadow falling over his face and allowing the terrified and in agonizing pain spider guy to see only a void of black, with two brightly burning green orbs for eyes, as the brunet spoke.

"And if you threaten the lives of my precious people... _**Be**_ _ **prepared**_ _ **to get hurt.**_ Now... Name?"

"RISAN! RISAN TSUKA!"

"Who do you work for?"

"I... I _can't_..."

Clenching his eyes shut, Issei took a deep breath to calm himself and wiped away any traces of pity or pain from his face, before responding in an utterly toneless, nigh on robotic tone of voice.

" _I see..._ "

 _Were someone to walk by the abandoned construction site that night, they would be witness to repeated flashes of light, a burning smell, and shrieks of agony._

* * *

The _**Taiyoko-sen**_ ( _Sunbeam_ ).

A high-class inn founded by the _**Japanese Cultural Preservation**_ _ **Committee**_ , a semi-independent division of the _**Agency for Cultural Affairs**_ , and of the Japanese government in general, _**Taiyoko-sen**_ catered to those who wished to experience the old ways of Japanese culture without having to abdicate fully of the conveniences of the modern world.

Their staff was comprised mostly of people born and raised to learn and preserve the memory of the old ways, while still knowing how to navigate and live in the current age, who, alongside their older and more experienced supervisors, were tasked with giving the customers the best experience they possibly expected from their resort.

Being a very high-class facility, this inn boasted astronomically high prices, with even a day's stay costing much more than the median Japanese household made in 6 months of time. Despite that, however, the facilities were full more often than not, with many of the rich and famous constantly flowing into the place.

To even get a vacancy, most have to navigate a wait list of over 5 months in length, with most people having to wait out an average of a year or two for a single weekend's stay.

Despite the sheer level of exclusivity of the inn itself, very little could match the level of importance of a small group of people being hosted at the moment.

The three of them sat in a roughly triangular fashion around a table covered in the best of traditional Japanese cuisine, ranging from the simplest _**Onigiri**_ ( _Rice ball_ ), to the most exquisite and well-prepared _**Kaiseki**_ , all of them worked on by world-class chefs.

The first of them was a very beautiful woman. With her short, slim build, clothed in a white, silk kimono with golden trim and accents in the form of flames; silk-smooth, raven black hair going down to her shoulders in a hime cut, brown-colored almond-shaped eyes, a small, dainty nose, and a pair of slightly plump lips colored in a ruby red that contrasted her porcelain-colored pale skin greatly and her eyebrows cut in a thick but short rounded shape, the woman could be said to be the epitome of the traditional Japanese princess...

Except for her full, soft-looking, back-achingly large breasts which, if one were to measure them, would be classified as E-cups.

The next person was a youthful-looking man clad in a black kimono with silver accents in the form of threads. His eyes were slightly slanted and closed most of the way, making it impossible to discern their color lest one were uncomfortably close to him, his nose was straight and pointed, his thin lips held in a constant half-frown, all of this on a slightly long face, with a pointed chin. His height was the average for a Japanese man in their early twenties, his build was slim, with narrow shoulders, and his long, brown hair was done up in a topknot. All of these traits together gave him the stereotypical _**Bishounen**_ ( _Pretty boy_ ) look.

If one were to judge him by those traits alone, they would come to regret it, however, for hidden behind his lowered eyelids was a light of intense shrewdness, the type that belonged to the best and most ruthless lawyers, businessmen or politicians.

The last person was a large man, much taller than average by standing at a good 6'1", with broad shoulders and a noticeably muscled build, even under his sea-foam green kimono, with aquamarine-colored accents in the form of crashing waves. His blue eyes were big and round, his nose slightly crooked and thick, and he sported a thick beard and mustache combo, covering his mouth and his broad, square-shaped jaw, both in the same russet color as his short, windswept-looking hair. His skin was sunburnt in the same way as a fisherman's, yet put together with the rest of his look, it gave him an attractive, if austere, appearance.

Said image of austerity was instantly dashed when one took the time to really look him in the eye and took in the spark of innate amusement and mischief within them.

These people are Kurai Hikari, the shrewd businessman in charge of the _**Japanese Cultural Preservation**_ _ **Committee**_ ( _JPCP_ ), Hageshi Katagi, a 'businessman', which was just the polite way that people tried to describe a famed Yakuza boss as, and Eiko Hinode, the heiress of a very old, very rich and very eccentric Japanese billionaire that made his wealth by buying and selling historical artifacts.

Their real identities are, however, in order: _**Tsukuyomi**_ , the Shinto god of the moon, _**Susano'o**_ , Shinto god of storms, and _**Amaterasu**_ , Shinto goddess of the sun; the three primary gods of the Shinto pantheon.

And the three of them were currently in the middle of a very intense stare down.

The air in the room was tense as the three looked at each other in the eye challengingly, no sounds filling the room other than their breathing and their heartbeats. Were any regular person within the room, they would have come undone from the sheer amount of nerves caused by the intensity of the three deities.

His finger twitching, Susano'o spoke, his voice booming like thunder, and the crashing of waves.

"...Anybody got threes?"

Tsukuyomi clicked his tongue as he handed Susano'o the three of clubs, while Amaterasu pouted as she handed him both the three of hearts and spades.

Susano'o smirked widely as he pulled the plate of mochi towards himself, swatting away Amaterasu's grasping hand and ignoring her puffed up cheeks.

"I can't believe it," Tsukuyomi grumbled "How is it that _you_ can beat _me_ at a card game? I'm the sibling that does politics and bluffs!"

"Heh, I'm just that good," Susano'o said, before stuffing a whole block of _**Kakumochi**_ into his mouth "Dll w'ff it." ( _Deal with it_ )

Amaterasu gave him a puppy eyed look, which he ignored, while Tsukuyomi rolled his eyes, inured to his brother's disregard of social mores, and snatched a rice ball from the table.

The sounds of many pairs of feet traveling outside their door managed to arouse a twinge of their interest, but when this progressed to shouting coming from the reception, the three felt compelled to investigate.

When they reached the reception, they were witness to two of the security guards, both clad in white kimono and brandishing a pair of re-purposed cattle prods, shaped like katana, at a heavily bandaged individual that was barely capable of keeping himself up.

Said individual was wearing a dirty, beat up kimono, its edges frayed and tattered, and his feet bare. His eyes moved around the room wildly before they settled on Tsukuyomi, when they gained a focused glint as he stumbled towards the god.

The two guards were about to move to stop the man, only for Tsukuyomi to raise his hand and speak up.

"Leave him be."

"But Kurai-sama-" started a rotund, glasses-clad receptionist, only for Tsukuyomi to interrupt him.

"He's one of mine. Prepare a bath and a fresh set of clothes for him."

A large group of silver-dressed individuals with their faces covered with cloth masks streamed into the entrance lobby, picking up the man and carrying him away, while others followed while carrying first aid kits.

* * *

Freshly washed, bandaged and dressed, the man was escorted into the private room of three of the richest and most famous people in japan, and placed in view of the three of them.

Clearing his throat, Susano'o spoke up.

"Okay, I'm sure that we've been silent so far in an attempt at being cryptic and all, but this just isn't cutting it. I'd like to know why our relaxing and _discrete_ stay was ruined by a man that looks like he just came from a war."

The burly redhead followed that strong statement up by... Lazily leaning back into his seat, and... Shoving a few more blocks of Mochi into his mouth until his cheeks were stuffed like a squirrel's...

Amaterasu giggled behind the sleeve of her kimono, while Tsukuyomi counted back from 10 in an attempt at suppressing an unbecoming sigh. Succeeding in suppressing his exasperation, he addressed the man kneeling across him.

"Give me your report. But before that..." Tsukuyomi proceeded to point a finger at the bandaged individual, causing a silver-colored light to pass through him, revitalizing him completely "Take off those ridiculous bandages."

The man grabbed the bandages covering his face and pulled on them, causing them to unravel and revealed a particularly fuzzy, six-eyed face with pincers for a mouth.

The instant the man's identity was revealed Amaterasu turned a wary look towards him, while Susano'o frowned at him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Ignoring these reactions out of habit, Risan focused his gaze on his master's face before speaking.

"I confronted Hyoudou Issei as you ordered me to, my lord, but things went... Not as I expected them to..."

" _ **YOU WHAT!?**_ "

Susano'o's bellow resounded throughout the entirety of the Inn, causing more than just a few window panels to rattle, and a certain kitchen worker who had been paid off to add a laxative to Hageshi Katagi's tea before an important 'business meeting' with the 'CEO' of another 'company' a few years earlier to wet himself, curl into a fetal position and rock back and forth while babbling about 'lobsters' and 'nipple clamps'.

"Calm yourself, brother," Tsukuyomi spoke, "Save your overblown, exaggerated reactions to the end of the report. Until then, let us hear my servant's words."

Susano'o leaned back into his cushion, his arms crossed over his chest and his right index finger beating a rhythm on his left bicep, while Amaterasu gave the spider individual a noticeably forced smile in an attempt at putting him at ease.

Ignoring both those things with an ease stemmed from habit, the spider spoke.

"I had been watching him for about a week's time, and even in that period I could see that he was... Beyond the human norm. He was capable of bench-pressing steel girders, of cracking them with his bare fists, of stomping down hard enough to crack concrete.

"I eventually attributed those things to a Sacred Gear of some sort, and, after seeing the extent of his physical capability, I engaged him in the belief that I should be able to easily counter a physically-inclined fighter like him, who was unable to notice me watching him for a whole seven days."

Steeping his fingers together, Tsukuyomi spoke.

"By the condition that you came in on, I gather that things did not go as you expected."

The spider shook his head, before explaining.

"They did not, my lord. I attacked him from the shadows, something likely to disable him, perhaps even temporarily cripple him, yet he easily avoided it, and revealed the fact that he had been aware of my presence the entire time.

"The two of us engaged one-another, and the battle seemed to be even at first. My skills and experience allowed me to keep up with his raw strength, and my tactics were supposed to give me an advantage, however... They did not ultimately do so.

"Every time it seemed as if I were about to get ahead, he managed to flip the script and target me with a dangerous attack.

"Eventually I had to dip even deeper into my bag of tricks. Battlefield manipulation, stealth, web usage... None of these allowed me to win.

"At a certain point, a large amount of steel girders fell _on top_ of him. What did he do in response?

"He appeared behind me, completely unharmed, revealed to me that he never struggled for the entirety of that battle, and that he was doing little more than humor me... And then he proceeded to... Extract information from me."

The three gods were fully focused on the Spider, and none of them missed the way that the spider's eyes went dead as he spoke, distancing his emotions from his report in order to keep himself calm.

"He used some sort of lightning magic on me, and he spent a whole night interrogating me."

His expressionless facade broke at that, his tone tinged with self-recrimination as he spoke.

"I...I _Failed_ you, my lord..." The man's gaze, focused on Tsukuyomi, conveyed little more than despair by now, "I talked. My identity, your own, my orders... He let me go after that so that I could send you a message:

"Stay away from me, my town, and my precious people. _Or Else_.

"He... He was strong, my lord. Much stronger than any unknown human had the right to be. Most people of that level of strength are either aligned with a faction or another, or are at least known to the world.

"He implied that he was in Ultimate-class.

"Nothing else to report, my lord."

Tsukuyomi leaned his head back, thoughts and ideas rapidly blurring behind his almost fully closed eyelids, before he spoke.

"Very good. Now leave us and take a break."

The spider responded by smacking his right fist against his heart, before making his way out of the room. As soon as the doors slammed shut behind him, Susano'o exploded.

"YOU SENT _**HIM**_ AFTER THE KID!?"

His tone frosty, Tsukuyomi responded.

"And what is wrong with Risan?"

"HE'S AN _ASSASSIN_! WHAT KIND OF IDEA ARE YOU-" Susano'o closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before resuming in a calmer tone, "We intended to establish friendly contact with the young man, to see if he could be convinced to _join_ our faction, or to at least _work with it_ , and you sent an _assassin_ after him! What were you thinking!?"

"I was _thinking_ that we needed to know who the person we wish to hire is, and whether or not they're really worth the effort. By having Risan after him, I expected to get the information that allowed us to discern whether or not we should pursue his services, or if they were even worth it.

"Now we know that he is strong enough for the type of work we have in mind for him-"

" _AND_ that his perception of the Shinto pantheon is soured," Susano'o cut in "You have, in a single move, put any sort of ambivalence that he had towards us to rest, and put his opinion of us purely on the 'negative' side of the spectrum!

"I'd rather have an ally that I have to help build up, than no ally at all!"

Waving his hand carelessly, Tsukuyomi responded.

"Do not worry much. There are other ways for us to get him to work for us. We could offer him wealth, influence, power... He's a human, they always go for those types of things."

Susano'o's scowl became a softer frown, while Amaterasu gave Tsukuyomi a sympathetic look as she spoke up for the first time in the entire conversation.

"You know that is not always the case, brother. Not all humans are like-"

"The point-" the moon god cut in, "Is that we can always find a way to secure his services for us. For now we just focus on our primary issues."

Amaterasu sighed forlornly at that, saddened at the fact that her brother simply refused to open up and overcome his past, while Susano'o clicked his tongue in a mixture of irritation and sympathy.

"Fine," the storm god said begrudgingly, "But next time I'll be talking to the boy directly."

"No," Susano'o said as he metaphorically slashed through his brother's words, and literally slashed his hand through the air, "You unilaterally hijacked our first contact and fucked it up tremendously. This boy seems to be more my type of person, so me approaching him would be preferable. Even if that happened to be wrong, I can't fuck up any more than your _pet assassin_ did."

Having said that, Susano'o got up to his feet and left the room, heading towards the Inn's internationally recognized, 5 star-rated _**Onsen**_ ( _hot spring_ ) in order to get his last dose of relaxation before he had to go back to work.

Back in the room, Amaterasu placed a soft hand on Tsukuyomi's shoulder, before speaking.

"Don't worry, Tsu-chan. Su-chan... He'll calm down soon, and we'll put all of this nasty business behind our backs."

Sighing out loud, Tsukuyomi place his hand atop his sister's, luxuriating in the generally clean, calm aura that hung around her, before his analytical mind reasserted itself, leading him to stand up, patting the dust off his kimono, before addressing the sun goddess.

"I have some business to take care of. See you later, sister."

Having said that, Tsukuyomi exited the room, leaving Amaterasu behind, all on her own.

The sun goddess fidgeted in place for a while, as if fighting some sort of internal battle, before her eyes finally lit up as she reached a conclusion.

She narrowed her eyes, allowing them to shiftily dart through the entire room in a search for observers of any type.

Satisfied of the absence of spies, and with a decisive look in her eyes, Amaterasu raised her right hand up high into the air, her wrist rolling with the intent of limbering it up... Before allowing it to dart towards the plate of sweets Susano'o had won during their match, snagging a skewer of dango and shoving all of them into her mouth, the sweets causing her to let out a moan of delight.

" _Sho' Gud!_ "

Were anyone there to watch the scene, they would be undecided on whether to be exasperated at the silliness or struck dumb by the sheer cuteness.

* * *

"Issei, would you mind coming to the back for a talk real quick?"

The brunet shook his head, indicating that he didn't mind, before walking into the backroom, the cloth he had been using to wipe down a table hung over his shoulder. Seeing his boss walking into the room, the brunet spoke.

"I'm not in trouble, am I, boss?"

Andre gave Issei a long look before sighing, sitting down and pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit the cancer stick, ignoring his grimace, and took a big puff of it, savoring the smoke before blowing it out of the open window. Only then did he speak up.

"Not at all. You've never really given me any reasons to give you a hard time, which is part of why I called you back here today.

"You seem to be off your game today. Distracted, always looking beyond the distance, that sort of thing. What I've been meaning to ask, is...

"Are you okay, kid?"

Issei opened his mouth, a quick ' _I'm fine_ ' about to emerge from his mouth, before he thought better of it. His gaze fell on Andre with a level of intensity that the man did not really expect his worker to ever direct towards him, before he spoke.

"Why did you leave the supernatural world, boss?"

The bald, black man froze for an instant, his eyes falling onto Issei for a full second before he took another puff of his cigarette, blowing the smoke slowly out of the window, a small grumble of ' _I knew this conversation would_ _require_ _a smoke_ ', before he focused on him, and addressing him.

"How do you figure I used to be part of the supernatural, kid?"

"Really?" Issei spoke while giving Andre a deadpan look, "I've seen you pull washcloths out of thin air every single day for a few months already. We don't have that many washcloths here. Plus, you still have a small amount of magic leaking from you, and I don't mean the insignificant trickle that civilians for the most part tend to passively release.

"Your magic feels... Well-used. It currently feels like a large beast that decided to lie down on the sun and take a nap. You don't get that type of feel from passively making yourself heal from paper cuts a few minutes earlier.

"Plus, with how strong Daichi is, if you were a regular human then you'd be unable to use your hand for a few days whenever he gives you his overexcited handshakes."

The man sighed out loud, before a small, self-deprecating smile showed up on his face as he spoke.

"Guess that whole 'old age' business is messing with my habits... Such a rookie way to get caught... _She_ would've laughed me to oblivion if she learnt of this, before training me to hell and back in order to get me back into shape...

"Well, I believe you asked a question, so that's enough nostalgia for the day.

"The reasons behind me leaving _that_ world... You could boil it all down to ' _Family_ '.

"That world took people that I was close to away from me, on a _permanent_ basis, if you catch my drift. Then, with having to take care of Daichi and everything... I felt that I could just leave all of that behind and make myself a new life in the 'real' world.

"That way, I didn't have to deal with enemies trying to target my family, and Daichi didn't have to live with the constant possibility of losing his uncle and caretaker."

Smiling softly, Issei spoke up.

"You really love Dai, don't you, old man?"

"Yeah," Andre said with full seriousness, "There is very little I wouldn't do for my nephew. He's one of mine, and anyone that tries to change that, well..." Andre's left eye gained a red glint as he spoke the next words, " _They're gonna have a_ _ **bad time**_."

"Daichi..." Issei spoke haltingly, "He's not... _Normal_ , is he?"

Andre turned a sharp gaze on Issei, which the youth responded to with a pair of raised eyebrows, prompting him to let out an explosive sigh.

"You cheeky brats of this generation have no respect..." The bald, black man took a last puff from his cigarette, putting it out – on an ashtray that had appeared on the table when the conversation had first started – and then just barely managed to ignore the urge to face palm at another slip of this type, ignoring Issei's amused-looking 'knowing look', before turning completely serious as he spoke, "Daichi is... Special. He is very special in a way that he has absolutely no idea of."

"What do you mean exactly, old man?"

"What I mean is that he's not fully human. He's a half-blood, a term that denotes the child of two beings of different races, though the term half-breed is often used if the mixture is feral in nature, like that of two supernatural animals.

"I won't tell you Daichi's exact parentage, that would be breaking a promise that I made to someone very dear to me, and to completely violate Daichi's privacy. Heck, not even he himself is aware of his heritage, and that is for the best.

"Knowing... It would put him in grave danger. Suffice it to say that there's more to Daichi than advertised on the tin, so to say."

"Part of his heritage is what gives him his great strength, right?" Issei asked.

"Yeah," the man spoke, "It gives him his strength, his toughness, and a whole other host of things. Daichi hasn't gotten seriously sick or injured even once ever since he was 5, and whenever he does get a minor injury, like a small bruise or papercut, it heals much faster than a regular persons' does."

The man paused for an instant, before focusing on Issei with a level of intensity that would have others unnerved, as he spoke.

"This knowledge about Daichi's heritage... What do you think of it?"

The brunet scoffed at that question, shaking his head before he answered.

"What a roundabout way of asking me whether I'm cool or not with Dai being a half-blood."

"If you're willing to be this candid, then I will do so as well," Andre said seriously, "What is your opinion on those who are not descended from two humans?"

"This information changes absolutely diddly squat. Dai's a great kid, and I've come to see him as a younger brother. A younger brother strong enough to bend steel, but still.

"Dai's family... As are you, old man. If you or Daichi are ever in trouble, then give me a call and I'll be there as soon as possible."

Andre walked towards Issei, placing his hand on the brunet's shoulder, before favoring with a smile as he spoke.

"Issei... You're a great kid, and I'm glad you've got mine and Daichi's backs."

Seeing that the serious matters were taken care of – for now – Issei cheekily smirked at Andre, before responding.

"Does that mean I get a raise?"

Andre snorted at that, before a devious smile appeared on his face. Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, which he used to scribble down something, while he talked.

"As a matter of fact, I've been thinking of doing this for quite a while now, but I always ended up forgetting. You've been inducted into the 'permanent roster', and that comes with an... Improvement on your part of the Employer-employee relationship."

Having said that, Andre slid the folded chit of paper towards Issei. The brunet unfolded the paper, taking one look at its written contents...

Before freezing.

He sat there frozen for over 30 Seconds before his brain finally managed to return from its journey To Mars, causing him to have to lick his suddenly dry lips before he spoke in a faint tone.

"T-this... Is this like, the wi-fi password, or something, boss?"

Andre, smug bastard he was, responded by smirking at Issei, before walking back into the bar proper.

The brunet followed him, still in a numbers-induced daze, haphazardly allowing the door to close behind him.

Neither of them noticed the surprisingly stealthy form of Daichi standing behind the back-alley entrance to the bar, having returned from taking out the trash just in time to listen to the entire conversation.

It was good to know that Andre and Issei were so fond of him, it caused him to feel something warm pooling in his gut and chest, but the other things... The ones about how supposedly strong he is, and how he's likely not fully human...

Those are things that he will have to think through later.

For now, though, he has a job to do.

' _The trash won't take itself out, will it?_ '

With those thoughts in mind, Daichi hefted the two knocked out Yakuza onto a single shoulder before walking off, headed towards the police evidence deposit box, as was habit with the more ' _difficult_ ' customers.

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_

* * *

 _ **Okay, I had posted another version of this chapter yesterday, but a just a few hours after that my Beta finally managed to get back to me with the evaluated and corrected version of the chapter.**_

 _ **This happens to be said version, replacing my previous update.**_


	23. Running Strategy

_**Heyheyhey~**_

 _ **I'm back again, so you guys know what that means...**_

 _ **NEW CHAPTER!**_

 _ **However, before that, I'd like to thank darkistorrik, Jarod, Joshua Garrett, Tyric Gaia and Caden for believing in me and my work enough to donate to me.**_

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 _ **With that out of the way, onwards to the chapter!**_

* * *

"Will wonders ever cease..."

Aika's words were aimed towards the stretching forms of Motohama and Matsuda, the first of them clad in a green sweatsuit with white stripes and sneakers, while the second one was dressed in a tracksuit with running shoes.

Issei, clad in a tank top, shorts and a pair of sneakers, raised an eyebrow at the bespectacled girl as he finished his own stretching, his eyes quickly registering her attire of a hoodie, running shorts and tennis shoes before returning to her face. His tone inquisitive he asked "What do you mean?"

The girl snorted, pointing towards the extremely voluptuous Lilith, who was clad in only a sports bra, yoga pants and tennis shoes of her own, before speaking up "A scantily-clad babe stretching and showing off her flexibility right in front of them? You'd expect that the members of the vaunted 'Perverted Sage Trio' would take the opportunity to ogle her to hell and back, no?"

Motohama and Matsuda simultaneously turned blank looks upon Aika as if questioning her very sanity, before Issei spoke in a tone as serious as the grave:

" _ **Third Commandment: Thou shan't covet thine bro's Honey.**_ "

The proclamation was met with an " _ **AMEN!**_ " in stereo from both Motohama and Matsuda, something that managed to startle the bespectacled girl, while Lilith chuckled in the background.

Aika procceeded to adjust her glasses and cough into her fist in an attempt at moving past her startled jump, before speaking up in as normal a tone as she could.

"W-what the hell was that even? What do you mean third commandment? I'm not particularly knowledgeable of Christianity, but I'm about 95% sure that what you just said was completely wrong."

Snorting, Lilith piped up in an amused tone "Only 95%?"

"Of course," Aika said with a smirk "After all, using the term 'Honey' like that is so old that it must've come from biblical times. Or the 90's."

Lilith grinned at Aika, poised to quip back, before Issei spoke up.

"I'm not surprised that you're not aware of these commandments. Unlike the ones from the bible which are known by all and sundry, yet broken again and again on a daily basis with little to no concern, the commandments that the three of us follow are absolute lines that we will not cross for anything, even at extreme risk to our lives.

"These commandments... They are taken directly from the _**Broble**_."

While the three males looked extremely solemn at the declaration, as if the final word had the weight of the world itself hanging from it, Aika and Lilith gave the three of them incredulous looks.

"The broble?" Lilith asked skeptically.

"No, no no," Issei shook his head as he spoke "It's not 'the broble'. It's ' _The_ _ **Broble**_ '. You don't just refer to it as if it were some random book you can find in your average bookstore, wedged between a novel about teenagers in a free-for-all deathmatch, and another one about vampires that sparkle in the sun. When speaking of the _**Broble**_ , one's tone must be respectful at all times. Even if it is just a passing mention."

The two girls traded looks, before Aika spoke.

"So... This bro-" the girl stopped at the intense look she got from the three boys, rolling her eyes before speaking in a deliberately long tone " _ **Broooooo-ble**_ of yours... What else does it say? If that was the third commandment, then what're the others?"

Issei cleared his throat, Motohama and Matsuda each moving beside and slightly behind him, before he spoke.

" _ **And so, The One True Bro, sent Broses down Mount Bronai bearing his word, those rules that would become the law that each and every Bro forever would respect and uphold. Thus spoke Broses:**_

" _ **'I come bearing the message of truth and righteousness from The One True Bro. The One True Bro spoke to me, and told me of His laws, to be made into commandments.**_

" _**'Firstly, a Bro will never look at another Bro's mother as anything less than family. To look upon a Bro's mother in a romantic or sexual light is a sin of the greatest caliber.**_

" _**'Secondly, a Bro must never romance their Bro's sister without the explicit permission of their Bro. If they are approached first, they must reject any overtures until their Bro has given the 'all clear'.**_

" _**'Thirdly, thou shan't covet thine Bro's Honey. Come rain or sunshine, beach or pool, swimsuit or underwear, even if she were fully nude in your presence, your Bro's Honey shall never be an object of lust.'**_ "

The two girls gave the three perverted sages odd looks, before Lilith spoke.

"I thought you said there were more commandments?"

"The commandments were sent for Bros, and Bros alone. Rejoice, for you already know more of the ' _ **Brohood**_ ' than 90% of the world's population. To speak of the other commandments... Your minds would utterly shatter under the weight of such information."

The two girls traded looks again, but before Aika could question them further, Matsuda spoke.

"Look, while I'd love to keep discussing _**The Good Bro-ok**_ , I'd also appreciate finishing my run on time to freshen up before heading to school, so we should really get going."

Issei nodded slowly at that.

"Thanks for the reminder, since I was about to go into a long rant." The brunet turned towards the two girls, his eyes closed in two overly-cheerful arches as he clapped his hands and spoke in an overly bright tone "So, we will start our run here, in Kuoh Park, go past the ice cream store in the Town's center, then we go down XX street through the..."

With each word that Issei added to his diatribe, Aika's complexion paled further and further.

"...then we go past the downtown market, and sprint the rest of the way back here! Sounds simple enough, no?"

"Hey, you're joking right, Issei?" Aika spoke with a tinge of desperation. She turned towards the two other boys, intent on asking the same question, only to get hit by a pair of stone-faced looks that had her hopes weakening more and more.

"Hahaha! So that's all? I guess it's going to be an easier run than I expected!"

Aika turned towards Lilith with an incredulous look as she said those words with a particular confidence in both tone and stance. She was about to open her mouth to say something about this, only for Issei's barked " _ **GO!**_ " to hit some sort of hitherto unknown instinct of hers that had her automatically running besides all the others.

Lilith turned towards Aika and gave her a thumbs up, confident in her ability to outstrip everyone in the group in stamina whose name wasn't Issei.

 _ **-X-**_

" _Waaaaaaa-teeeeeerrrrrrr..._ "

" _Heh..._ " Aika let out a pained chuckle as she pressed a hand against a stitch on her side, speaking in a tired tone inbetween rapid breaths " _I thought... It would be an easy... Run?_ "

The dehydrated succubus responded to Aika's teasing with a middle finger, getting another pained, half-hissing chuckle from the girl, before her hands automatically jumped towards the waterbottle Issei threw her way, uncapping it in a smooth motion and chugging it all down in 3 seconds flat.

Motohama gave the girls a mildly smug and amused look, the weeks of running he had been getting in with Issei and Matsuda made it so that his legs hurt much less than the girls', and his lungs recovered from their burning faster, despite the fact that he was still sweating like a pig in a sauna.

Matsuda, while having been covered in sweat when they first stopped, seemed to have already fully recovered after a water bottle and five minutes of rest, while Issei had barely broken a sweat after their run.

The succubus dragged herself towards her boyfriend, tossing herself onto him in an attempt at getting him to support her full weight rather than her legs, her voice strained and low as she spoke.

" _How come your friends are better off than me? I'm a freaking succubus, and they're both fully human! I should have a natural advantage over them!_ "

The brunet chuckled at that, his whispered response going unnoticed by any of the others present.

" _You may be a succubus, but you've rarely ever lifted a hand to exercise before, while Motohama and Matsuda have been doing so for weeks now. Of course they'd be further ahead than you. Hell, I was in a better shape than you after a week with Xinthia!_ "

Lilith pouted at Issei's response, which prompted the brunet to smirk at her before using his squeeze bottle to splash her neck with cool water, something which drew a surprised jump and shriek from her.

Lilith took Issei's squeeze bottle from his hands and squirted a stream his way, only for him to move aside, leading to the stream hitting Aika's face.

The look that the bespectacled girl shot at Lilith had an ominous glint to it, but her wet riposte, hindered by a shortness of breath and burning muscles, ended up all over Motohama and Matsuda rather than her intended target.

The spontaneous water fight that erupted in Kuoh Park had the older folks watching fondly as they reminisced about their own youthful days, spent having fun with friends as little more than unburdened, worry-free kids.

Unnoticed by them, a pair of young eyes gazed longingly at them, before vanishing in a flash of white.

* * *

"Jeez, Issei, you need to go easier on me next time around. I'm still sore from the workout you put my body through. My hips are crying foul over your brutalizing of them!"

Each of Aika's sentences, said with a wince as she stretched and worked the kinks out of her back - each of them released with a cringe inducing pop - had the rest of the class slip further and further into heated murmurs, various pairs of eyes falling on the two of them before being rapidly averted before either of them could make visual contact.

"You're being vague on purpose to stir up our classmates, aren't you?" He asked with an amused smirk and a quirk of the eyebrow, resulting in a shrug from the girl as she answered.

"Hey, is it my fault they're both extremely nosy, _and_ extremely gullible?"

Chuckling, Issei answered.

"Teasing our classmates is good and all, but don't get a guy's hopes up like that."

Aika was the one to quirk up an eyebrow at this moment.

"You have a girlfriend."

Issei shrugged unrepentantly.

"Lilith's fully commited to the Harem plan."

"..."

"..."

"Do I have to give her my resumé if I want in?"

Motohama wasn't the only one to choke on their lunch at Aika's blunt question. Issei laughed deeply at that, a pleased look on his face as he responded.

"I really like you, so it's a tentative - yet with high expectations - yes from me. You'll have to talk to Lilith about this as well, but she enjoys your company and personality, so I'm pretty sure she'll agree."

Aika blushed prettily at Issei's straightforward words, her tone hesitant as she spoke.

"R-really? You really think so?"

"Mhm!" Issei assented with a nod and a smile, causing Aika herself to smile back.

Motohama and Matsuda, who were watching from a slight distance in order not to disrupt the moment, traded looks that conveyed the same basic message:

' _What kind of Cologne is that? I need to get me some of that!_ '

* * *

With a bemused look on her face and a quirked eyebrow, Akeno spoke up.

"I don't know how to describe what I'm currently looking at."

Aika, a pair of shades on her face and a bucket of popcorn in her hands, stopped a handful of the salty, buttery treat halfway to her mouth so that she could answer.

"We're watching Matsuda trying to get accepted into the Track and Field club."

"Ah."

The busty second-year student turned back to the scene, seeing the - admittedly - athletic form of Matsuda, his bald head gleaming brightly under the afternoon sun, as he talked to someone. His back was straight, and his tone of voice was calm and composed.

The person he was talking to, a slim girl with short, lime-colored hair, seemed to be nowhere near as calm as Matsuda, her arms flailing as she spoke, her frustration mounting at Matsuda's calmness.

"Why would we accept a no-good pervert like you into the Track Club?!"

The bald member of the perverted sage trio seemed not at all disturbed at the words slung his way as he answered.

"I'm quite sure I've already shown you my track records from middle school."

The girl faltered for an instant, but before she could say anything else, another person spoke up.

"Puh-lease. How can we be sure those aren't faked?"

Everybody turned towards the source of the voice, only to see a black haired young man stepping forward to stand beside the first girl. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he kept talking.

"I'm pretty sure that someone with such... shady... hobbies as yourself could easily know a person capable of forging documents like those." Nobody missed his attempt at a subtle look towards Issei "So we can't really be sure. Plus, even if those papers are legitimate, would that really make a difference? There are others in the club who can put out the same numbers as you, without the added trouble of having to look out for peeping in the girl's locker rooms, or something of the sort."

Aika and Akeno both frowned at the boy's presumptuous tone, while Motohama seemed ready to tear his head off if you based it solely on how pronounced his scowl was.

" 'Would that really make a difference?' you say." Everybody turned towards Issei at his words. "There's a really easy way to figure out whether having Matsuda in the track club would be worth the possible effort required to keep him in the straight and narrow."

"Hoh," The lime-haired girl spoke "And what would that be?"

Issei's mouth stretched out into a much-too-sharp grin that showed way too many teeth, instantly making making the Track club members uncomfortable, before he spoke.

"A race of course. Put Matsuda against your best runner. That way, regardless of what you think of the papers he showed you, and the medals and trophies he has on the racks in his home, you can still decide whether or not it would be worth putting up with him."

"Well, isn't this interesting!"

Everyone with the exception of Issei turned towards the latest voice to join the conversation. A tall, athletic girl, her long blonde hair done in a ponytail reaching all the way to her waist, and a band-aid across her nose. Her eyes were light blue in color, and they shone in interest as she beheld the situation.

"I don't really know the whole situation here, but I _do_ know that the fastest member of the Track club has just been challenged! I, Haimiya Kimie, happen to be said 'fastest member'!" The girl crossed her arms under her nearly non-existant A-cup bust in absolute pride, before a second, tired-sounding voice made itself known.

"Captain," a short, mousy-looking, glasses-wearing brunette spoke from behind her in an exasperated tone "You can't just tune out everything you find inconvenient and focus only on running."

Kimie shifted lightly, allowing the girl to fully come into view, revealing the fact that she was clad in the Kuoh academy uniform and carrying a sheaf of paper underneath her arm, before speaking.

"Of course I can Kagura! I'm here to run! You can take care of the boring stuff!" Kimie seemed to ignore Kagura's reproaching gaze as she turned back towards Issei, her tone excited as she spoke "So! So! Who am I racing? Are they fast? Let's get to it!"

Issei blinked lightly at the girl's explosive energy, turning towards the stone-faced Matsuda. Kimie followed Issei's gaze, before tapping her chin as she spoke absent-mindedly.

"So I have to race this scary bald guy..."

Everybody watching had to agree with the scary classification, due to the mixture between the extremely intense look in Matsuda's face, the way the shadows played on his face in order to hide his eyes, and the ominous glint from his bald head.

"Give me one second!" Issei said before reaching Matsuda and pulling him aside. Before Issei could say a thing, Matsuda spoke up.

"Issei."

The brunet focused completely on Matsuda at his single utterly serious word, ready for more.

"I'm so nervous that I'm not really sure how I'm still standing up."

Issei managed to resist the urge to facepalm at the abnormally intense admission, instead allowing Matsuda to vent.

"My legs were really shaking, so I had to focus hard to keep them from doing so, but now they're cramping, and I feel sick to the stomach, and I think I'll-"

"STOP!"

Matsuda's monotone deluge of words was halted by Issei, who placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking up.

"You've nervous. Scared. Maybe even terrified. But do you know why you're feeling like that?"

Seeing Matsuda's gaze focusing completely on him as if expecting him to give him a revelation, Issei decided not to disappoint.

"You're feeling all of those things because you love running. You love track. You're afraid of going out there, failing, and being unable to keep running. But let me tell you this: If you try and don't succeed, you may be sad and disappointed in yourself for a while, but you'll eventually get over it.

"But if you don't even try, if you don't give it your very best? Then you'll live the rest of your life asking yourself 'What if?'. And what if's... Those don't just disappear. Those stick around forever. So you're going out there, and you're going to show what you're worth, knock the socks off of those people, and have them _begging_ you to join them. You hear me?"

"YES!"

Issei grinned at the spirited response coming from the baldie. It was good to see his friend get this passionate over life again. However, he could _feel_ that Matsuda's excitment had something else to it. Something _deeper_. Some sort of hidden strength, or maybe talent?

Whatever it was, he would make sure his friend actually made use of it.

"By the way, Matsuda, listen..."

 _ **-X-**_

"Ah! So you're read-"

Kimie was surprised when Matsuda, his eyes almost blazing from how focused he was, completely walked past her, stopping at the starting line of the track. Seeing his concentration, the girl grinned giddily and made her way towards the lane right next to his.

Shaking her head and muttering something about 'Irresponsible captains', Kagura spoke.

"This will be the 100m dash under standard competition rules. The two of you will settle on the starting block and run on go. Kotoura Fuyumi-san," Kagura said while nodding towards the lime-haired girl clutching a stopwatch "will be at the finish line to call the winner and their time."

Kimie started vibrating in excitment even as she set her feet up on starting block. Matsuda silently did the same beside her, the two of them placing their hands on the ground for balance.

" **READY?** "

The two of them went into the starting positions, even as Matsuda slowly and noticeably closed his eyes, the light and sound of the entire world around him diminishing into a low, almost unnoticeable murmur as he thought back to Issei's words.

" _...Matsuda, listen. I want you to give your absolute best on this race. By absolute best, I mean going beyond anything and everything you have ever done before. Your current best time? I want you to make it seem absolutely geriatric next to this performance._

 _"I know that it's not easy to just pull an 'All time best' performance out of your ass, so, when you get out there to the starting block, I want you to picture this._ "

" **SET!** "

The two of them shifted, their whole bodies positioned for the race, adrenaline creeping through their bodies and blood rushing past their ears. Despite all of this, Matsuda could still perfectly recall Issei's words.

" _Imagine that there's an absolutely adorable - and completely legal - Loli standing at the end of the track. She's willing to become your girlfriend... But only if you win the race. If you lose the race, said legal Loli will become the girlfriend of the person you hate the most in this world._

" _Thing is, this person has been constantly winning against you, always beating your best time, again and again. Whenever you get faster, he seems to get slightly more so, beating you by a hair's breadth. You know that the only way to win is for you to go beyond what you think you know about your body. You don't run as fast as you_ think _you can._

" _No. You look deep within yourself, find the strength that really pushes you, the fire that fuels your determination. You draw it out, using it to push yourself hard. Harder than you ever had before. And then, all that's left..._ "

Matsuda grit his teeth, the muscles on his legs and lower back tensing and relaxing rhythmically, and in tandem with his breathing.

" _Is to_ _ **Run!**_ "

" **GO!** "

Matsuda's eyes snapped open even as he pushed off from the starting block. Despite giving it his full strength, however, he still found himself seeing a flash of blonde hair pulling ahead of him, with the distance between the two widening evermore. However, he wouldn't let things end like this.

' _I can't lose! I won't lose! I_ _ **REFUSE TO LOSE!**_ '

Issei's eyes widened at that moment, his previously frowning mouth shifting into a grin, even as Matsuda's legs were overcome by a series of sensations, ranging from an ant-like tingling, to a low, simmering heat underneath his skin, nipping at his muscles even as he forced them to push harder than ever before.

Uncaring of all of this, Matsuda **Roared** , pushing his legs into place, one after the other, with a single war-cry sounding within his mind.

' _ **FOR ALL THE LOLI IN THE WORLD!**_

With that thought fueling him, Matsuda _**moved**_.

*CLICK*

Other than a smugly smirking Issei, everybody was staring at the gasping, sweating form of Matsuda, who shook as he felt this surplus of energy recede from his body, causing his legs to lose their strength and resulting in him falling onto his knees, his face and back drenched in sweat.

"T-ten point eighty eight seconds..."

Kagura's face snapped towards the dazed Kotoura, her tone incredulous as she spoke.

"10.88? That's... Less than a second slower than the Under 20, 100 meter world record!"

"REALLY!?" Kimie asked in an excited tone, before pointing at Matsuda "That was awesome! You're awesome! I never got beat in a race before, you know? Hahahahahaha!"

Despite Kimie and Issei's nonchalant responses to these events, everybody else was still stupefied at Matsuda's performance.

"Hey you."

The boy that had questioned Matsuda's skills winced, his attempt at fading back to obscurity while everybody was focused on the results of the race failing as Issei turned a particularly triumphant look his way, causing the rest of the track club members to part, opening a corridor between them.

Gulping heavily, the boy spoke in a faltering tone "Y-yes?"

Issei's grin widened further as he spoke "Are your concerns over the legitimacy of Matsuda's records sated?"

The boy nodded so fast that his head turned into a blur, before the lime-haired girl spoke up in an aggrieved tone.

"Fine, you can join the Track club!"

She narrowed her eyes, her lips splitting lightly as she was about to say something else in a scathing tone, only for a particular voice to interrupt her, and to cause her to break out into sweat.

"Fuyumi-chan," Kimie spoke in a sickly saccharine tone that caused chills to run over the backs of all the track club members, memories of grueling training sessions of the past threatening to overwhelm them all at once "I don't know what's really happening, but it seems to me that you were trying to keep someone from joining the Track club, correct?"

"Yes," the lime-haired girl spoke up in a hesitant tone "B-but Kimie-taicho, he-"

"Fuyumi-chan."

The girl's mouth clamped shut at that, her skin gaining a particular pallor while large drops of sweat ran down her neck and back. Seemingly not noticing all of this, Kimie kept speaking.

"You applied for the Track club last year, correct?"

"Y-yes, Taicho."

The captain's tone turned even more sugary at her next words.

"I'm sure you still remember the protocol for entry into the club."

The girl nodded, only for Kimie to shake her head while tutting chidingly, her hands going to her hips as she spoke on.

"Now that just won't do. I want you to answer me with words. Now, I want you to assure me that you still remember the joining process."

Clearing her throat, Fuyumi spoke in a hesitating, halting tone.

"W-well, during the Club Recruitment Day and the week after, the track club members will be giving out registration forms for any student willing to join the team. They will be subjected to a preliminary physical exam, before being allowed to learn from one of the senpai."

Kimie nodded at that, before motioning the girl on with her wrist.

"If you join after that cutoff date, things are slightly different. You will be presented to the Club Captain, Vice-captain and Club Manager. They will be asking you a few questions, looking over your track record, have you running on the event of their choice, and then make their individual decision based on those results."

Kimie raised her hand, signaling Fuyumi to pause, before speaking up.

"You knew all of that, yet you still decided to take initiative in the evaluation process of a possible member. What's worse, you straight-up rejected them without giving them a chance to prove themselves." Pursing her lips lightly, Kimie went on "50 laps by the end of the day, or you'll be doing double tomorrow, and, if you fail _that_ , you'll be doing twice that the day after. GO!"

The girl didn't hesitate and starting running at the barked command, before Kimie turned back towards Matsuda.

"As you've just heard, Matsuda-san, the actions of two of our members do not reflect the opinion and choice of the leadership of the track club. After seeing how fast your legs can go, and the sheer determination you have for running, I can't, in sound mind, say anything other than 'welcome into the track club!' "

"I say yes as well," Kagura spoke as she adjusted her glasses "With two votes for against an abstinence from the Vice-Captain, I would like to extend my sincere welcome into the track club, Matsuda-sa-"

"No thanks."

With the exception of Issei, who only watched with a smirk on his face, and Kimie, who held an inquisitive look, everyone else jerked in surprise at Matsuda's instant response, having come from the now-recovered baldie.

"Why would you not join after all this effort into it?" Asked Kagura while adjusting her glasses.

Matsuda breathed deeply before forcing himself to stand up on shaky legs. Despite that, his tone was unwavering as he spoke.

"I love running. The feeling of the breeze gliding along my skin as I run, my feet pounding a rhythm on the ground underneath me, the warmth that fills your core after a good run. But the thing I enjoy most... Is _going fast_."

Kimie closed her eyes at that, a small yet wry smile on her face as she said "Ah, I get it."

When the other people present turned to the Track club captain, some in confusion, others curiosity, and one inscrutably, Kimie sighed, before speaking in her friendly, perky tone.

"Come on, it's easy to understand! Ma-chan here-" Matsuda wasn't the only person to jolt at the very friendly address "-likes running fast. He joined the club in order to learn how to become faster. Best stance, breathing techniques, the optimal way to swing his arms for proper balance... He wanted to glean experience off of his senpai and keep getting faster.

"However... Whatever Issei-san said to him made him run so fast that he utterly defeated our best, and fastest, member. If he can defeat the best club member after a few words of motivation, when the opponent he's facing has years of experience on him, and a few extra years of training, then there is nothing that the club can teach him, really, otherwise it's members would be able to easily keep up with him.

"That's why Ma-chan won't join. It's not worth it for him to join us."

Kimie turned towards Matsuda before asking.

"Is that correct?"

The baldie floundered for a few moments, before clearing his throat and nodding resolutely.

"Yes."

The girl sighed before speaking.

"What a pity that our club will miss out on such a talented member. If you could find a way to consistently put out those sorts of numbers, then we'd get pretty much every medal in the district, prefecture, region, and maybe even countrywide.

"With that being said, an occasional visit to show the fruits of your labor into getting faster wouldn't hurt, right?"

Nodding owlishly, the baldie spoke.

"I... guess?"

"Oh, great!" Kimie said with great enthusiasm, before turning to the assembled people "Now, everyone who isn't a club member, out! We have to train now!"

The fire in her eyes had the rest of the club groaning in misery, knowing that they'd be running themselves ragged for the forseeable future.

 _ **-X-**_

"...and that's pretty much what we did for the day. After that, each of us went their separate way, since everyone had stuff to do today. Apparently."

Lilith rubbed her chin lightly as she processed Issei's recounting of his day, before speaking up.

"So... You went through all that trouble, for absolutely nothing?"

"Well..." Issei smirked knowingly "That is probably what it looks like from an outside perspective."

The succubus looked at her boyfriend inquisitively, only to groan at his widening smirk "You're really going to force me to ask?"

"I have absolutely no idea whatever it is you wish to ask of me."

Lilith placed the back of her hand atop her forehead, heaving an exaggerated sigh before asking in a faux put-upon voice "Will you please tell me whatever it is that I missed from your tale that is actually significant?"

"Ah," Issei said with an unrepentant grin "All you had to do was ask."

He dodged the playful smack that was about to hit his right arm, before speaking up, his tone serious.

"Matsuda used _**Reinforcement**_."

Lilith reeled back as if slapped, her face changing from surprised to serious as she asked.

"Explain."

Nodding, Issei started speaking.

"Alright, to make you understand what I did and why, I need to take you back to my first meeting with Aika.

"She has a reputation based on her appreciation of all things ero, like any proper person should have, and an infamous skill of hers, which is the ability to measure a guy's equipment on a single glance."

Lilith nodded at Issei in order to signal her understanding so far, prompting him to keep speaking.

"I gave her the go-ahead to use the skill, and imagine my surprise when I felt a thread of _**Tantric Energy**_ flowing into and within her eyes. It was just for an instant, but it allowed her to see more than simply what she tried to look at. I felt her accidentally look into my own _**Tantric Energy**_.

"I'm quite sure that her mind was unable to cope with the sheer amount and repressed the information, otherwise she would've come to me over it before, but I digress.

"Feeling _**Tantric Energy**_ out and about in the world had me curious and wary, so I decided to focus on Aika for a while. I used my sensory skills on her repeatedly, but I couldn't find a single drop of supernatural blood on her. She's not a descendent of a supernatural being, neither is she aware of the supernatural world.

"That means that she simply taught herself how to harness _**Tantric Energy**_ , even if unknowingly and to a minor extent, and figured out a way to use it, creating a particularly infamour skill for herself. With me so far?"

Lilith nodded again, a notepad and pencil in her hands as she jotted down the information she found most important in this conversation. Issei kept going.

"So, to recap: Aika, a human with no links or knowledge to the supernatural world, managed to create a skill of her own that allows her to measure someone's magic. That was pretty impressive.

"I started making up and eliminating hypothesis with basis on this info, but I ended up reaching a few specific conclusions:

" 1- Like me, Aika has the ability to tap into _**Tantric Energy**_ because of her appreciation and affinity for all things Lust;

" 2- She managed to harness reinforcement on her own for her eyes, and actually splintered off from it enough to create a whole different skill;

" 3- If Aika could do those things, then it was likely that another mundane individual with a level of appreciation of lust akin to hers would be able to as well, with enough effort and purpose."

"So you decided," Lilith broke in "To try with Matsuda, to see if you were correct."

"Right in one. That's why I decided to give him the best possible motivator at that moment, to get him to fully commit. Worst case scenario, he can't use the energy and just has to run like a normal, albeit extremely motivated, person. Best case scenario, my possibilities are confirmed."

"And they were."

"Yes. Aika did it on her own, I got Matsuda to do it, and Motohama likely does it already, if I take into consideration his ability to instantly understand and catalogue the three sizes of almost all girls. Ever."

"But what's your end goal here, Issei? Why do you want them awakening these powers?"

The brunet looked up at the sky, noticing the way that clouds had been gathering together in a portent of rain, with the occasional rumbling of thunder sounding from the distance. His tone pensive, Issei answered.

"Protection. Hanging out with me isn't turning out to be particularly safe. Discounting the supernatural world, there are plenty mundane individuals who would really like to bash my head in. People who see how often I hang around Motohama and Matsuda, and that know how close I am to them. The fact that the two of them are my best friends.

"These people won't go after my family because they know that the moment they do, I'll go thermonuclear on them, and they'll be dealt with through methods more intense than just a few punches.

"Motohama and Matsuda, however, are fair game. Make something up to screw with them, set them up to hit on or go out with the wrong person's 'girl', and they'll be getting out of it with more than just a few lumps and bruises.

"However, if I give them this power, I give them the ability to keep themselves safe, be it by running, or by fighting.

"Plus, I'll eventually be breaking the information about the supernatural world to them. I want them capable of identifying danger and reacting to it, even in my absence. That could be the difference between them living, or dying."

"Then why don't you tell them about it now?" Lilith asked, her gaze intent.

"They're not ready yet. They have no assurances as to their skills, no mental preparation to deal with such a dangerous world... No. First I want to figure out where each of their skills lay. Strengths and weaknesses. Teach them to enhance the first, and to overcome the second. Allow them to get ready so that when I _do_ break the news to them, they don't just fall into despair out of an extreme sense of vulnerability, or uselessness."

"Is that why you have them exercising with you in the mornings?"

The brunet waved his hand slightly at that in a 'so-so' motion.

"Sort-of. It started out as me wanting company for my early morning runs, and then it started evolving and folding into my plans. It's why I've been inviting Aika as well, and why I push them all as hard as I do."

Lilith finished writing in the notepad before sliding it down her cleavage and between her breasts. In an instant, the writing utensils were gone, with no explanation as to their location. Lilith ignored Issei's raised eyebrow as she spoke.

"I'll talk this over with mother, she'll likely know some of the possible ways to make things happen as well as you wish them to."

"Thanks, love. And give my very best to everyone else, alright?"

"Mhm!"

The couple parted after a particularly intense goodbye kiss, Lilith heading towards her destination, while Issei walked straight to work, ignoring the cool breeze that had just run down his spine.

* * *

"HAHAHAHA! OH, ITO, YOU'RE A RIOT!"

Despite the black clouds covering the sky outside, and the many liters of rain falling onto the world, the mood within ' _ **The Hammered Dwarf**_ ' was still friendly and animated. Between Andre's policies to leave any outside issues at the doorway, and Issei's willingness to beat up groups of people twice to three times as large as him to a pulp in order to enforce said policy, it was easy to understand why the usual miasma of tension, pain and mistrust that hung around Yakuza bars was missing from here.

Unlike the usual bars, wherein members of different gangs, groups, famillies or clans got together with basis on their alignments, glaring at anyone who was outside their circle of influence, here the patrons just let themselves forget these things, no matter how temporarily said forgetfulness was, just see each-other as nothing more than people.

Some good, others not so good, with quite a few assholes in the mix.

A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder struck so close to the town that everyone inside the bar stopped for an instant, allowing the black spots that emerge after a sudden bombardment of light to dissipate, as well as the mild disorientation from a loud clap of thunder.

*BOOM!*

Just as the various patrons recovered, another clap of thunder sounded, coinciding the the doors to the bar being slammed open, before a very distinct individual sauntered in.

Clad in a dark grey kimono with a dark blue trim and light blue accents in the pattern of electricity, standing at 6'1", heavily muscled and broad-shouldered, with wet, russet-colored hair and beard/moustache combo, and a tan consistent with constant exposure to the sun at high sea, this man's presence plunged the whole bar into silence.

His blue eyes moved from person to person in the room, before focusing on Issei with such intensity that it was almost palpable. The man opened his mouth, and the booming voice that came out of it could easily be compared with the crashing thunder right outside the bar.

" **I am Hageshi Katagi, and I am here to talk to Hyoudou Issei**!"

 _ **-Chapter, End-**_


	24. Talking up a storm

**Hello, it is I, returned from the shadow realm.**

 **First things first, I'd like to apologize to everybody that has been eagerly waiting for me to post for my delay in posting. THis delay came about due to the unreliability of my gear (again), as it is not a particularly powerful, or modern, computer, and since my ISP has been acting screwy since early november, and hasn't yet stopped having issues. It's not a rare occurence for my internet to randomly crash throughout the day.**

 **(My internet was actually down during the process of me writing this chapter.)**

 **Despite all of those facts, I still feel the need to greatly apologize to my readers for these delays. My goal for this year is to actually get a better rig for various purposes, from writing to schoolwork, so it's a work-in-progress type deal.**

 **Most of my patrons have retracted their monetary support, something which is perfectly reasonable while taking into account the problems I have previously pointed out in regards to my sporadic periods of activity. I fully understand their choice to do so, and I do not begrudge them at all. I thank them, even, for having ever decided to invest in me and my work. I will never forget that fact, and I will always mantain the spirit of that choice.**

 **With that being said, I still find myself blessed with a single Patron, Tyric Gaia, which I wholeheartedly thank for still believing in me despite all of this. So, thank you very much for your continued trust and support.**

 **With that out of the way, let us go onwards to the story.**

* * *

 _Previously in the story_

 _*BOOM!*_

 _Just as the various patrons recovered, another clap of thunder sounded, coinciding the the doors to the bar being slammed open, before a very distinct individual sauntered in._

 _Clad in a dark grey kimono with a dark blue trim and light blue accents in the pattern of electricity, standing at 6'1", heavily muscled and broad-shouldered, with wet, russet-colored hair and beard/moustache combo, and a tan consistent with constant exposure to the sun at high sea, this man's presence plunged the whole bar into silence._

 _His blue eyes moved from person to person in the room, before focusing on Issei with such intensity that it was almost palpable. The man opened his mouth, and the booming voice that came out of it could easily be compared with the crashing thunder right outside the bar._

 _"_ _ **I am Hageshi Katagi, and I am here to talk to Hyoudou Issei**_ _!"_

* * *

 _Now_

The entire bar went instantly silent. The many varied patrons of ' **The Hammered Dwarf** ', all of them being members of the Japanese underworld, knew exactly who Hageshi Katagi was. The head of one of the biggest Yakuza families of the country, operating out of the Kanto region, which encompasses the Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, Katagi was one of the seven people said to run the entirety of Japan's hidden, darker side.

Where he went, people looked. When he spoke, people listened. If he 'invited' you to have a talk, you graciously accepted said invitation, no if's, and's or but's. This was the type of person that was asking for Issei.

It was only natural for the majority of the bar's customers to tense at his presence, their desire to say something, _anything_ in possible defense of their favorite waiter warring intensely with their awe, fear and _sheer intimidation_.

It wasn't just the man's tall, broad shouldered and noticeably muscular form that gave them pause, nor just his reputation and influence. Rather, it was this... _Air_ that he had about him; it was an air of overwhelming and suffocating power, comparable to the large, rain-ladden dark clouds that hung in the sky right before a massive storm. In the face of someone whose mere presence evoked feelings of domination comparable to the forces of nature themselves, it was very difficult for most people to say a single thing.

"Hoh? And what could you want with my most efficient and lucrative employee, Hageshi-san?"

Andre, the owner of the bar, was most definitely _not_ most people. Unheeding of the air of apprehension hanging around his very own bar, and ignoring the tenseness that had taken hold of all of his other customers, he answered nonchalantly, as if he were talking to any other client.

Hageshi actually nodded respectfully at the man for that, before answering.

"I would like to talk to him about a certain... Annoyance... That we have in common. One which happens to be very fuzzy, very ugly, and has more legs than it knows what to do with."

While he didn't fully understand the meaning behind man's words, Andre caught the gist of things, causing his hands to stop their previous activity of polishing a drinking glass. He placed said glass down on the bar counter, turning towards his other customers before speaking.

"Dear customers, I am forced to ask you to leave the bar right now. I apologize for the inconvenience that the closure poses to you all, and can only promise to make up for it at a later date, but at the moment, if you're not staff, then you need to go."

Andre's words caught his already stunned customers by surprise. Despite the fact that they were currently awe-stricken by the 'important businessman', they were still willing to break out into action to defend their preferred bar from danger or damage, even if it meant going against one of the most powerful people in the country, with an authority equivalent to a very high-ranking member of government. For Andre to simply dismiss them like this... It was very surprising. One doesn't go into a dangerous fight without backup, after all.

"You guys heard the boss! **OUT**!"

Issei's sudden shout had the frozen customers jolting in place, before actually following Andre's instructions and slowly trickling away from the bar, all the while shooting Issei and Andre worried looks. As soon as the last customer left the bar, Issei flipped their sign from open to closed, while Ginei's hands went straight under the counter, where he had been working with Andre preparing drinks.

Andre looked at the nervous-looking Daichi, who had been helping to wait the tables, before speaking up.

"Daichi, I want you to go upstairs, lock the door and don't open it until I say it's fine."

Daichi, whose whole body displayed his nervousness, spoke in a low tone.

" _I-I want to stay, uncle._ "

Sighing deeply, Andre kept his gaze on the 'visitor', seeing no obvious signs of anger or impatience from him, even as he spoke to Daichi.

"Daichi, we're going to be discussing things that are much to dangerous for you to know! You need to-"

" _I already know._ "

Daichi's words caused Andre's focus to instantly snap onto him, it's intensity causing Daichi to cringe even as his uncle spoke in a very careful tone.

"What do you 'already know', Daichi?"

The young man closed his eyes and took steadying breaths, allowing most of the tension he had been feeling to disperse, his posture to straighten to a degree that he never did before - _changing Issei's assessment of his height from 6'5" to about 6'7 or such_ \- and his fidgeting to clear, before opening his eyes, allowing his gaze to meet Andre's.

"I heard you and senpai talking. About your... Previous lifestyle. And my... Origin, and status. I already know about all that stuff. And I want to be able to help if either you or senpai are ever in a bad situation."

Andre sighed out loud, pinching the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

"I didn't want you discovering things that way, but I guess I should've just been more cautious... Well, since Daichi already knows... Hit it, Issei!"

Issei slammed his hand onto a poster hanging right next to the door depicting a scantily clad woman, allowing a strand of energy to leave him and to trigger the magical array drawn on the back of it. A series of mathematical formulae spread from the poster to all of the bar's walls, the lines of numbers crossing and intercepting one-another until it formed a rough approximation of a gridlock pattern, before vanishing with a flash of grey light.

Almost at the same time, Ginei pulled whatever it was that he had been holding onto under the counter into view, revealing a blue-tinged Nodachi with a green hilt with gold adornments, which exuded a feeling of cold, and caused the bar to smell like freshly fallen snow.

Issei took a deep breath before his skin was covered in black tribal marks, which were gradually filled up with a purple hue, while Andre flicked his wrist, allowing a massive double-headed battleaxe to suddenly materialize within his grip.

Daichi took a shuddering breath before arming himself with one of the bar's tables.

Issei spoke up at that, being the one that the subject actually revolved around.

"Our mutual... Acquaintance... Told me who his boss was, and gave me a basic description of what he looked like. He also did the same regarding his boss' known associates, so before anything else, I'd rather know if you're going to keep using your made-up name, or if I should use your real one... _**Susano'o**_."

The russet-haired god of storms seemed totally unconcerned by this development, with it already being expected given the debriefing Risan had given them regarding the... Target... of the mission Tsukuyomi had unilateraly assigned him.

"Either one is fine, really."

Nodding at that, Issei clenched his left hand into a fist even as he spoke in as nonchalant a tone as possible, as if discussing the weather.

"So, have you come to finish the job that Butt Ugly failed to?"

 **Susano'o** sighed again at that, already expecting the conversation to go mostly like this. He kept his tone as non-threatening as possible as he answered, "Not at all. I came here just to talk. Peacefully."

Ginei looked at Andre at that declaration, while both Andre and Daichi looked straight at Issei, waiting for his call. The brunette allowed his sensory skills to uncoil themselves slightly, something which allowed him to feel that **Susano'o** spoke truthfully, leading him to nod, which caused the other three to lower their respective weapons. Poignantly enough, none of the three, not even the nervous and inexperienced Daichi, really put away whichever weapons they wielded, even as Issei sat down at one of the tables Daichi had not lifted as if they were lego toys, with the god of storms sitting across from him.

Clearing his throat, **Susano'o** spoke up.

"First of all, I'd like to apologize for the previous... Misunderstanding. That attack on your person was the consequence of an unilateral decision from my brother **Tsukuyomi** , and neither myself nor **Amaterasu** were complicit in, or even aware, of his actions."

Issei, who chose to keep his empathic abilities active to gauge **Susano'o** 's honesty throughout the duration of the conversation, nodded at the storm god's truthful words, signaling him to continue.

"The truth is, the **Shinto** pantheon would like to work with you, Hyoudou-san. As the true authority of the country as far as the supernatural world goes, we have certain methods made available to us to know of the existence of people beyond a certain level of strength within our territory.

"These methods made us aware of someone of your strength and potential, and we saw you as someone capable of giving us great aid."

Issei nodded further at that, before speaking up, "And what aid would your pantheon require from a mere human such as myself?"

 **Susano'o** managed to supress the desire to snort at Issei's ridiculous statement, allowing his finger to heavily tap the tabletop even as he spoke, "There is nothing mere about you, Hyoudou-san. That I can definitely guarantee. As for why we would need the help of a human...

"Truth is, the Shinto pantheon has only recently come back into activity. There was a serious problem a few hundred years ago which forced us to, let us say 'close the doors', so that we could re-assess and re-structure the way in which we functioned as a united group.

"This resulted in us all but fading into obscurity, probably being presumed dead or faded by the rest of the supernatural community at large. It's the only reason why we have things such as Devils choosing 'territories' on our turf to lord over as if they were their own.

"Various other groups overtook us in power, authority and development, while certain groups that were either part of our own, or at least associated to it, splintering off and following different paths."

"Basically, what you're saying is that you guys turtled up, but are now surprised that the rest of the world overtook you..." shrugging lightly, Issei spoke in an unconcerned tone, "I don't really see why any of that is my business. Why should I get involved in any of this, especially if it meant clashing against other powerful factions who have nothing against me, or that just don't know about me in general?"

"None of this seems to be your business," the storm god said with a nod "But, you have not yet heard the most important part. The reason behind the re-emergence of the **Shinto** pantheon, even in the less-than-optimal state we're currently in.

"Dark forces are stirring, Hyoudou-san. Japan used to be one of the safest places for people unrelated to the supernatural world, with very few exceptions, however this seems to be changing. Whereas people only really had to worry about supernatural interference with the mundanes in spots like **Aokigahara** , lately there have been more occurences of unnatural things going out of their way to hurt regular people.

"Of course, it's hard to notice if you're not paying attention, but if you keep your eyes peeled for the unnaturaly high number of missing persons and mysterious animal attacks that have been increasingly targeting rural towns and cities, you can see that things aren't really normal.

"The amount and severity of the attacks have been steadily increasing, with some of them occuring even in broad daylight, with witnesses. If things keep going like this, more innocent people are going to get harmed, and the risk of the supernatural world being revealed to the regular people increases."

Those words caused the mood of the three other men in the room to change from guarded and cautious to grim, while Issei inwardly gave **Susano'o** a notch of respect for having placed innocent lives ahead of the secrecy of the supernatural world - and actually meaning it!

Having given them time to digest the previous information, and intending to 'strike while the iron is hot', **Susano'o** continued.

"If these instances keep escalating, as they seem to be at the moment, it won't take long for even the more urban parts of the country to be hit, placing a myriad of targets within reach of these assailants, whomever they may be.

"It could go as far as even the people around you getting hurt. Family, friends, loved ones of all types... All of them could get endangered by the enemy if nothing is done about it.

"This is where you come in, Hyoudou-san. We, the **Shinto** pantheon, have a few suspicions on the source of these attacks, and we believe that there is a big bad behind them, either causing them, or simply using them to further their goals.

"I cannot tell you who we suspect at the moment, as it is not confirmed information and could lead to you simply jumping at shadows in an unnecessary way, but I _can_ tell you that if it really _is_ whom we think it is, then any actions from our part would cause them to go to ground, and turn their overt moves into cover ones, which would make them much more difficult to figure out and deal with.

"However, if we had you, Hyoudou-san, on our side..."

"You'd have someone capable of acting on your behalf, without alerting whomever you believe is responsible for this situation."

"Correct."

Steepling his fingers in front of his face, Issei spoke, "Let us say that I choose to work with you. What would I be expected to do, and what would I be getting in exchange?"

The storm god nodded in pleasant surprise at Issei's willingness to talk business, despite any previous misgivings, before answering.

"If you chose to work with us, you'd be expected to work as hired boots on the ground. Investigating suspicious occurences, saving endangered villages, terminating supernatural threats to the general populace, those are the first things you would be expected to do. Anything other than that, any additional tasks that don't fit into the previous mold, would be up to you to accept or reject."

"I see... Now, let's talk payment. How would you make that deal worth my while? I'm sure you already noticed, but I have a job, a very lucrative one at that, _and_ I am a full-time student as well. My schedule is already pretty full at the moment. So, what could you give me that would make me working with you worth the effort?"

 **Susano'o** retrieved a chit of paper from the folds of his kimono, placing it atop the table and sliding it towards Issei. The brunet lifted the paper and read the number written on it, one eyebrow rising, before he placed it back down and spoke to the storm god.

"Not bad. Nothing to scoff at, however... These jobs I would theoretically be saddled with would carry an inherent risk to my very life, one that could be bigger in scale than I even know given the ominous things you've said, and their possible implications. I'm not really sure this would be enough to cover that, and that is without considering any extra activities, of the type that would not be covered by the primary agreement."

"I expected you to say something like this, Hyoudou-san, which is why I didn't intend to repay you with money alone. The fact of the matter is, if I start moving around the amounts of money that these types of services would usually garner, people will take notice. It would be especially bad for you, as you would have to justify getting paid such exorbitant amounts to both your bank and the government. They would more than likely believe it to be dirty money, meaning that they'd keep a closer eye on you, making it difficult for you to have the freedom to do the jobs required to keep our country safe.

"Rather, I intended to pay you in a combination of money, books on magics of all sorts, and magical items of great power and value. Pad out your bank account while increasing your survivability and skillset, ensuring that you come out of danger alive-"

"And capable of continuing to do work for you."

"...Correct."

Issei leaned back into his chair even as he though things through, before **Susano'o** spoke again.

"You don't need to make a decision right at this very moment. Rather, I'd prefer it if you took this," the storm god spoke as he placed a business card right in front of Issei, "And used it to contact my group with your decision _after_ you've had the time to fully think things through, and make a choice."

"Is that all?" Issei spoke as he carefully handled the business card, getting a nod from the storm god.

"Yes. I simply wished to apologize for the previous event, explain how and why it came to be, and invite you to work with our pantheon to protect innocent people from being harmed by the forces of darkness. With all that said, I'll be taking my leave."

Nodding his head respectfully at Issei, Andre, Ginei and Daichi, one after the other, **Susano'o** let out a pulse of energy, easily disrupting the seal that Issei had previously activated, before vanishing in a flash of lightning.

Andre clicked his tongue, while Ginei muttered out a low ' _show-off_ '. Issei, still sitting down, adopted a pensive face even as he rolled the business card between his fingers.

Daichi's gaze moved from his senpai, to his uncle, his thoughts in disarray as various questions tried to assemble themselves within his mind. His gaze fell on Ginei, who had been looking at his blade up close, before he finally spoke.

"Ginei-san also knew about the supernatural world?"

"Yeah," Andre said with a nod, his own gaze on his oldest worker, "Part of the hiring requirements here is the ability to hold your own properly for a reason. Some of the less... Benign supernatural entities have a tendency to be attracted to these 'underground hotspots', as there's usually an abundance of free-flowing lust, anger, violence, pain, and so on and so forth.

"The same applies to this town, especially with Stray Devils. We're no Las Vegas or New York, fortunately enough, but the concentration of strays in relation to our town and population size is ridiculous.

"Most of them get taken care of by the 'Land Owners', but it always happens that some slip through the cracks, or become active before the ones looking out for them gain awareness of them.

"They almost invariably end up moving within or close to Kuoh's red light district, and we are forced to take care of them. I'm one of the four 'bosses' of the district that help coordinate in these efforts to defend our turf, and to ensure that we manage to avoid the attention of other factions."

Issei gave Andre a curious look as he spoke.

"Is that why you were so quick to hire me?"

"Part of it, yes," the bald man said with a nod "Dai told me about how you seeingly moved fast enough to be a blur, how you could just vanish with a flicker of the light, and about the fact that you exploded a 2x4 with a single punch with no problem, something which I later on noticed left no injuries, not even bruises.

"Add to that the fact that you went out of your way to help Daichi when you had no need or obligation to... It just painted a picture of someone I'd like working with me. I actually intended to bring you into the loop soon, since you work late hours on the weekends and, if you joined the 'communitary rotation', you could use that time to hunt."

"You said that you are one of the district's four bosses...?"

A flick of the wrist from Andre caused a lit cigarette to appear between his fingers, with him taking a relaxing puff from it - disregarding the slight grimace on the face of the three others - before speaking with a finger poined at Issei.

"You don't need to get curious, since you'll be meeting them soon enough," seeing the surprised look on Issei's face, Andre shrugged before speaking again "This information is pertinent to all of us in the district. The knowledge of increased supernatural attacks, and the understanding that it might be enemmy action, rather than simple happenstance, could be the difference between life and death."

The man turned towards Daichi after that, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"Daichi, about what you heard... I can't tell you much right now," seeing the boy's frown, and Issei gearing up to protest in behalf of Daichi, Andre raised his hand, before speaking, "I made a promise, Daichi. This sort of information has a way of changing people, and the way they see themselves. Your mother knew that, so she made me promise not to tell you until you were ready."

"And what would 'being ready' mean, uncle?"

"A defined sense of self. And unwavering understanding of who you are, who you _want_ to be, what you want to do with your life, what you wish to achieve. Your mother wanted you to become your own person before you gained that information, so that you weren't inadvertently influenced into trying to in some way mimic or measure up to any perceived 'legacies' or 'expectations'.

"Learn about yourself more. Become stronger, in heart and mind, find your own way in life. Then... I can fulfill the promise I made to _her_."

A stricken look came over Daichi's face as he spoke "You're not even going to tell me who my parents were?"

Andre, seeing the look on the young man's face, mentally apologized before speaking.

"Your mother's name was Helen, and your father is still alive."

Daichi's face changed, a mixture of various different emotions running through it at the same time, before Issei spoke up.

"If Dai's dad is alive, then why isn't he present?"

"I can't tell you about his motives," Andre spoke "But I can tell you that they are reasonable. Anyways, I think we've all had an interesting day so far, so I belive it's best if each of us retreated to think things through in peace. Gin, Issei, you two can consider yourselves on break, since I won't be opening the bar for a while. Daichi... If you need someone to talk to..."

The meek young man nodded with a somewhat glazed look in his eyes, before heading straight upstairs into the apartment he shared with his uncle right above the bar.

"Dai... If you need anything from me," Issei spoke "Feel free to seek me out."

Having said that, Issei walked besides Ginei as they left the bar, and walked in about the same path for a generous amount of time.

"So..." Issei started, "How are you connected to the supernatural world, Gin-san?"

The college-aged man shrugged, causing the sword hidden within his shinai case to shake slightly before he answered.

"Family's been in the demon-hunting business for as long as I remember, hunting evil Yokai and Oni since the old days. They wanted me to inherit the position of clan head and hunt demons full time, but I wanted to go to college and have a social life, so I left. The boss found me having some trouble fighting a stray devil barehanded, so he saved me.

"Since I didn't have any money or contacts in the city, and the boss needed employees capable of dealing with the creepy-crawlies, he hired me to work for him. The pay's good, the hours aren't that bad, and I even got this sick-ass sword out of the deal. How about you, how've you gotten involved?"

"I'm a sacred gear user. My sacred gear hosts a dragon."

Ginei nodded in understanding at that.

"An aura that just attracts trouble, and you end up plunged into a whole new world out of nowhere. Got it."

The two resumed their silence as they walked, before Ginei spoke up again.

"The boss said that he'll be warning the other three heads of the red light district about this stuff, which means a meeting with them. You should probably get ready to be officially introduced to the other groups."

Issei nodded thankfully at Ginei's words, before the two of them split up, each of them following their own path after the tiring night they had.

The two of them, but Issei particularly, had much thinking to do, and decisions to make.

* * *

 _ **-Chapter, End-**_

* * *

 **This was a short one, more to get me back into the groove of writing, shake off the rust from my period of inactivity, and to expand a bit on the immediate world around Issei, to show that the supernatural is more diverse and propagated than one would think if simply seeing things from a unilateral perspective.**

 **If my gear doesn't crap out on me again, then I should have the next chapter out by next week, so look out for that!**

 **FrancoGamerxz, out!**


	25. New kids on the block

**Yup, I'm back. A bit later than I had hoped for, but within the time frame I had expected (equipment troubles). Regardless of that, here I am, and that's all that matters really!**

 **I'd like to thank Tyric Gaia and Jarod for seeing fit to support me on Pat reon!**

 **If anyone else feels they are able/willing to offer me this sort of support, you can do so at ' Pat reon "dot" com "slash" FrancoGamerxz '. If you can't or don't wish to, that's okay too! You can support me by reading my work, giving me feedback in the form of a review to help me improve upon any possible weaknesses in my writing, and leaving a follow/favorite!**

 **With that out of the way, let us proceed.**

* * *

" _…ctually, not really…_ "

" _-ight, idiot! Why would you-…_ "

Words flowed freely throughout the Kuoh academy campus for the duration of the student's lunch break. Various people from the academy gathered together in certain specific areas, forming what are commonly known as 'groups' or 'cliques', wherein individuals with similar or complimentary interests, personalities and temperaments to one-another engage in the process of social interaction.

This was the norm for the overwhelming majority of people, and it held true even for those who could be considered… Abnormal… within the bounds of Kuoh academy.

Hyoudou Issei.

Ichijin Matsuda.

Shisho Motohama.

Kiryuu Aika.

These were individuals who, due to their common interest in perverted subjects, would be expected to create a social circle of their own, following the basic structure of all others within the academy. They broke the mold, however, all due to the presence of a certain Himejima Akeno, the woman generally considered to be the second most popular person in Kuoh Academy, whom many looked up to, and many more simply looked _at_ , wistfully admiring from afar someone who they considered to be unreachable to the average person.

"Ise?"

Dozens of eavesdroppers ground their teeth simultaneously at the overly casual form of address from one of the two 'Great Onee-samas of Kuoh' towards the most infamous student/delinquent of the academy.

Issei, either unaware or uncaring of the animosity currently being sent his way, turned towards the one to have addressed him, his previously far-staring eyes focusing on Akeno with such sharp intensity that she had to suppress a reflexive squirm, before they went back to their usual playful/lecherous state as he spoke.

"What's wrong, Akeno?"

The fact that he directly addressed the young woman without a single honorific further increased the amount of teeth grinding coming from nearby, dozens of pairs of eyes glaring venomously at him with all the effect of aiming a laser pointer at a slab of steel, which is to say none at all.

The Vice-President of the Occult Research Club of Kuoh academy herself had to suppress a mirthful chuckle at the sheer envy written on the face of many a student around 'Their' tree, her focus still on the first subject as she answered.

"You seemed a bit off, so I decided to keep watch of you for the day. So far I've noticed you staring off into the distance, paying almost no attention to the conversations going on around you, and not eating a single thing." The Yamato Nadeshiko of Kuoh Academy frowned very lightly at that, a look of worry on her face as she spoke. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah…" The brunet gave Akeno an attempt at a reassuring smile, which came out as more of a half-grimace. Seeing the unconvinced look on the girl's face, Issei heaved out a small sigh before speaking in all but a whisper, not wishing to break the general friendly banter between the remainder of the group. "I just… I've got a few things weighing on my mind."

"Anything you're comfortable with sharing?"

The brunet shifted, resting his chin on his fist in an unknowing mimicry of the classical 'Thinker' pose, while various thoughts ran through his mind. After a few minutes of thinking, with the background noise of Aika teasing Motohama and Matsuda, Issei looked back at Akeno, and then spoke.

"Imagine that you're involved in a dangerous situation. You're tough enough to deal with this dangerous situation, but the people around you aren't. This means that in case something spills over from the side of your life that involves said dangerous situation, the people you're close to could be the ones suffering for it. What would you do?"

Akeno was the one to stop this time, her eyes closed as she thought this situation through, and tried to figure out the best possible advice to give at that specific time.

"Well…" The Gremory queen started, "Am I sure that the people around you aren't able to deal with the situation, or am I just guessing? And even if they were, could they not learn to be?"

"You're sure that they're unable to get involved, rather than simply guessing. Some of them have the potential to learn to deal with those sorts of situations eventually, but others don't."

"Ah, I guess I know of a way then." Seeing Issei leaning closer to her in interest, Akeno continued. "For the ones that can learn to deal with the situation, you teach them to do so. To the ones that cannot… Well, the best solution would be to distance yourself from them in order to keep them safe, until you yourself were capable of ensuring that there was no possibility of the danger spilling into your personal life ever again." The girl shrugged at that. "Those are pretty much the only pieces of advice that I can give you without knowing more about the situation."

Issei ruminated on those answers for a bit, his head bobbing lightly as his mind started considering and eliminating possibilities one by one. Nodding, the brunet spoke.

"Yeah… Okay, thanks for your advice, Akeno." Issei gave the fallen/devil a small - _yet genuine_ \- smile which had her outwardly smiling back with a tiny dusting of a blush. "You've given me a lot to think about." Having said that, Issei allowed himself to turn around and join the banter between Aika, Motohama and Matsuda, his spirit marginally lighter than it had been before.

Unknown to Issei due to him having turned back to the rest of the group was the bright smile that Akeno was giving him.

Others actually noticed the smile, grinding their teeth in anger and envy.

Akeno simply cackled inwardly at their suffering.

And so, another day at Kuoh passed…

* * *

"Uhhh… What are we doing here, senpai?"

Issei raised a hand at Dai in the universal 'wait a moment' motion, even as the sounds of heavy metal on metal kept sounding around them.

He thought back to the words of advice Akeno had extended to him, and decided that that was the best path to take at the moment.

Motohama, Aika and Matsuda were already training as hard as they physically could, but they were still nowhere near the minimum level of strength required to step into the supernatural world safely. Daichi, on the other hand, was already damned close in terms of raw strength, and that was without any sort of previous instruction.

Knowing that, and knowing that Daichi had already emotionally invested himself into the supernatural world, Issei decided to help Daichi progress further and achieve the necessary strength to stand up on his own feet in supernatural matters, leading to the current situation.

Standing up from his crouch, the brunet wiped a small bead of sweat off of his forehead, before addressing Dai.

"You've just made some discoveries. Discoveries about yourself, your parentage, and the world you live in. Do you know what the common traits between these discoveries are?" Looking back at the boy and seeing him shake his head, Issei decided to continue. "The common traits between these discoveries are that they're incomplete pieces of data, that they paint a more dangerous image of the world that surrounds us than we were previously considering, and that it shows that we are constantly in danger."

The brunet took a few steps away from Daichi before turning towards him, assuming a lecturing pose as he spoke.

"Be it because of your race, your parentage, your uncle's actions in the district or this new threat that has even the Shinto pantheon spooked, it's a fact that we seem to be heading towards choppy waters, so to say. Life from now on is not going to be smooth sailing.

"When life gets hard, Daichi, you must learn to get hard as well. After all, only hard men survive and thrive in hard times.

"What I mean to say is that you need to learn to protect yourself against danger. Luckily enough you already have an unnatural level of strength, probably akin to that of 4 or 5 strong men, all of this naturally.

"Knowing this, I asked myself: ' _What happens if someone as naturally strong as 5 men were to actually train hard?_ ' And so… Here we are!"

Issei punctuated his last words with a wide sweep of his arm, under the backdrop of the abandoned construction site that he used for his own training, revealing a myriad of hand-made weights, fashioned from things ranging from pieces of rebar with varying numbers of pneumatic tires of differing sizes attached to each end, to steel girders laden with the weight of single drum rollers.

"We'll be using these weights to help you get fit, then get stronger. We'll start low with these-" Issei said while pointing towards the rebar-tire weights, "-and then gradually increase the weight whenever we get much too comfortable with any individual weight."

"I-Issei-senpai… That's… I'm not sure I can do all that! I'm not strong like you!" Daichi was so caught up in his self-doubt that he didn't have the time to register Issei picking up a set of weights. "I-…I'll just mess things up, a-and… And disappoint you and uncle and-"

Daichi's speech was interrupted when a large weight settled into his previously-gesticulating hands. Trembling from the exertion, Daichi looked at the one who had placed the weight atop his hands, Issei, who had placed himself directly underneath the tottering weight.

The bigger boy eyed Issei in nothing less than surprise, even as he spoke in a strained tone of voice.

" _S-senpai, g-get away f-from there! I-…I c-can't handle t-this much longer!_ "

Crossing his arms, Issei looked up and met Daichi's gaze before speaking nonchalantly.

"Nah, I'm okay here, thanks."

Daichi panicked at that, the trembling of his arms increasing as did the burn in the muscles, shooting Issei a wet-eyed, pleading look.

"Senpai, please!-"

"You have to lift a heavy weight. Let go or allow it to fall forward or sideways, and you hurt an innocent person. Fall backwards and you hurt yourself. The only way to get out of this one is to be strong enough to either smoothly move the weight, ensuring that it doesn't strike the person you're trying to protect, or to be strong enough to keep lifting that weight for as long as your innocent is standing somewhere you can hurt him."

Issei's gaze sharpened, narrowed eyes boring straight into Daichi's as he spoke.

"This is just one of the various possible things that you'll have to face now that you've joined the supernatural world. Bad people will be doing bad things, and while it's not fair to expect anyone to go out of their way to try to be a hero and save everyone, I believe none of us have it in our hearts to let someone innocent get hurt if they're within our reach. If you want to be able to help these people within your reach, be they a stranger, friend or family, then you need to be strong.

"You need to be strong in body, you need to be strong in mind, and you need to be strong in spirit. The only way to gain this strength, Daichi, is to work for it! Never give up!"

A small light appeared deep within Daichi's eyes. The young man was considered by most a spineless wimp, someone with no pride, confidence or guts, unable to stand up for himself, and always getting stepped on. Issei, as someone who watched him brandish a table at a literal god, knew that none of these things were true. There was something within the young man, the one who at the moment could be compared to a lump of untouched coal. All he needed was someone to help push him, someone to bombard him with pressure and heat, until the coal of today turned into a big, powerful diamond.

"Work hard, Dai! Push yourself to the limit, and go beyond that! After you stop and recover fully, you do it again! And again! And again! You do it until you're strong enough to protect the people precious to you! You do it until you're strong enough to be acknowledged by those who you respect, and whose opinions you care for!

"You do it until **_you're strong enough to shape your fate with your own two hands_**.

"Now do it, Daichi! Show me what you've got!"

Something special happened at that moment. The light that had been shining within Daichi's eyes, the flicker that showed itself back at the bar in the presence of Susano'o? It was little more than a reflection of the fire that had started within his chest, the one which was nothing more than a few smoldering embers, barely putting out enough heat to offset the cold. And right now, at this moment?

" ** _RAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!_** "

At this moment, the smoldering embers ignited into a veritable conflagration, the sheer ferocious fire that burnt within Daichi giving him the strength of spirit to push beyond the limits of his body, to stabilize the makeshift weight he had been given…

" ** _AUGH!_** "

…and to toss it straight across the construction site.

" _Hah… Hah… Hah…_ "

Any regular person watching the scene at this moment would be equal parts shocked and terrified. The kind, calm, ' _wouldn't hurt a fly_ ' Daichi of normal day-to-day life was gone, leaving behind a massive beast of tense, coiled muscles, creased brows and narrowed eyes, mouth spread into a snarl revealing a threatening amount of teeth, each snort of his creased nose releasing a small puff of barely visible steam.

Uncaring of all of these factors, Issei placed a hand atop Daichi's shoulder, giving him a proud smile as he spoke.

"Good job, Dai. Keep honing your spirit and you'll be kicking ass and taking names in no time!"

Daichi's countenance gradually softened, his previously heaving chest going back to normal as his breathing smoothed out, his glare softening into a resolute look, and his snarl receding into a frown of concentration.

Noticing his mood, Issei pat him twice more on the shoulder, before walking back towards the makeshift weights.

"Okay, so we start with…"

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Susano'o first stepped into ' **The Hammered Dwarf** '.

Despite the shock of that whole situation, the days following it were mostly uneventful, with the exception of Daichi's training regimen. Issei had Daichi performing all sorts of physical exercises using his improvised weights.

Each day of working out ended up with Daichi drenched in sweat as he dragged himself back home, but in the end none could dispute the results.

Likely due to his supernatural constitution, the exercises he went through on a daily basis helped Daichi lose a noticeable amount of pounds of fat, and to create some thick, powerful muscle, especially along his arms and legs – _his midsection still required much more work as far as weight loss went_ – which, paired with his massive stature and his focused frown, had the people parting around him like the red sea. He was dressed in a long-sleeved tee olive-colored tee, a pair of brown khakis and dark brown leather shoes, polished to a shine.

Daichi was flanked to the left by Ginei, whose slim build was covered in a light blue male kimono top, with light grey hakama, black tabi socks and a pair of waraji. His brown, back-length hair was done up in a ponytail, and his ears were pierced, with kanji-covered tags hanging from his lobes. His trusty Kendo case was still with him, the strap wrapped over his shoulder and leaving the case itself hanging against his side.

To his right was Issei, clad in a red button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, black slacks and black shoes. His hair was slicked back with the exception of his single purple bang, which was allowed to hang in front of his forehead.

Walking in front of the three was Andre, clad in a white button-down shirt, black slacks and shoes, with his customary apron over all of those things.

The bald man lead the three young men through a series of twisting and turning streets and alleys, each of them taking them further and further away from any main streets, and into increasingly remote areas.

The three of them stopped in front of a large and noticeably abandoned warehouse, before Andre beat a rhythm against the massive door.

Three quick knocks, followed by a 3 second pause, followed up on further by five knocks, each of them spaced apart by a second, before a 5 second pause, followed by four quick knocks.

As soon as Andre finished his knocks, the sounds locks disengaging reached the party, before the massive door slightly rolled aside, forcing each of them to squeeze in sideways into a darkened room.

Sighing out loud, Andre lit a cigarette, its burning tip showing brightly against the dark background. He took a deep puff, releasing a cloud of smoke with a pleased hiss, before speaking in a nonchalant tone.

"Kirin, will you please skip all the melodrama and let us take our places?"

The sound of a clicking tongue reached the men, before a feminine voice spoke in an airy tone.

"Fine, fine… _Spoil my fun why don't you_ …"

The three young men ignored her grumbling in favor of appreciating their returned vision, vision which revealed a group of people sat around a round table.

One of them, the source of the airy voice, was a woman seemingly somewhere in her early 40's, her skin having a healthy, peachy hue, with a few laugh lines around her ruby-hued eyes and, lips. Red markings were present on her skin in the form of six thick whisker marks, three on each cheek, and a hue outlined her eyes. Her plump lips were colored in a ruby red color, with one of the corners upturned in a particularly vulpine-looking feature, even when her face was at rest. She also had a pair of fox ears atop of her, white with red additions, from which a neat mane of white hair ran down to her lower back. Her breasts could be easily estimated to be in the DD-cup, easily filling her white-and-red kimono at the top, while a similarly plump behind rested on a stuffed chair. Her kimono reached all the way to her ankles, unfortunately, covering up her legs from view.

Behind her sat a girl who might as well have been a clone of her, except that said clone's smoother, line-free face placed her somewhere in her teens, perhaps 19 years of age, and had way less of the red markings. She was also clad in a shorter kimono which reached only her thighs, revealing smooth, peachy, toned legs. Whereas the face of the woman seated in front of her was neutral, hers was much less so, her lips stretched to the limits into a vulpine grin, while her eyes looked like little more than curved slits.

Sat to the left of the fox woman was another woman, this one having skin as pale as freshly fallen snow, gray hair done up so that the back was arrayed in a tight bun, while a pair of bangs fell over each side of her face, framing it perfectly and reaching all the way to her chin. Her face placed her somewhere in her mid 30s, likely 35 or 36. Her eyes were narrow, though still visible, revealing a pair of ice-blue orbs, seemingly able to freeze a person in place with a single look. One could almost hear the crackling of ice if they were to as much as make eye contact with her. Her build was slim, with a modest pair of B-cup breasts, which were offset by a, although just as sensibly sized, ridiculously toned behind, it's shape perfectly defined even underneath the woman's black yukata. Her legs had a similar level of definition, the very outline of her calves showing even underneath the black, silky material.

Behind her sat a girl with equally grey hair and cold, blue eyes. Her height would place her somewhere in the 13/14 age range, but the rest of her body seemed to not be following the memo, giving her a flat chest, and a small butt – though Issei could notice it was also very much toned. The girl's grey hair was arrayed in a hime cut which reached all the way to her shoulders. The rest of her features could be considered a copy of those of the woman in front of her as well, up to and including the black yukata she wore.

The person sitting to the right of the fox woman broke the chain, being a 6'4" bastion of a man. His face was square, with prominent brows, thick lips, a thick nose, and a square jaw with a noticeable under bite. His height was complimented by his build, which could simply be described as 'muscles'. His muscles like had muscles of their own, that's just how buff he was. He was clad in a black suit that seemed to be straining to the extreme just to keep from shredding from the sheer bulk of the man's muscles. His head was bare of anything other than a single horn growing from the middle of his forehead.

Behind him sat someone who looked like an copy of him, from appearance to mannerisms, with the exceptions being the fact that they had less-weathered skin on their face, two horns instead of one, each on each side of the forehead, and their head had a little bit of hair. It was just a buzz cut, but it was still more than the other figure.

All of these people focused their gazes on the nonchalant Andre, who sat down on the chair across from the fox woman, his eyes closed as he enjoyed his smoke.

The silence stretched as time passed, nobody saying a thing, until Andre finally finished his cigarette, put it out on the tabletop, before turning towards his group and speaking.

"I told you before that there were 4 supernatural folks heading up the Kuoh red light district. Now, you get to be introduced to them."

He turned back around, a finger pointed at the fox woman sat directly across from him.

"This is Kirin, head of the Kunimitsu clan of Kitsune. Her clan runs a chain of very successful soaplands. Behind her is her daughter Kasumi. They're a pair of tricky little foxes, deriving enjoyment from messing with people, and they will take every opportunity you give them to do so."

The older fox, Kirin, hid her mouth behind a wide, white sleeve, whereas her daughter Kasumi allowed her grin to stretch even wider.

Andre followed that up by pointing at the woman in the black Yukata.

"The cool beauty over there is Shimo, the head of the Hyo clan of Yuki-onna ( _snow women_ ). Annoy her and you might find your privates flash frozen." Daichi shuffled uncomfortably at that, whereas Gin gripped the kendo case carrying his sword tighter. Issei crossed his arms behind his head, his face curious as he allowed his eyes to commit the features of each person Andre described to memory. "Behind her is her daughter Suzushi, whose tolerance and temper are half as forgiving." Seeing the cold look in the girl's eyes, Issei and Daichi decided to take Andre on his word. "Their family makes a living running a hostess club. Their customers apparently enjoy both Kuuderes, and frigid, untouchable, domineering women." Seeing their questioning looks, the man shook his head as he spoke. "Don't ask."

Andre's gaze shifted over to the last group at the table, before speaking up.

"Last, but not least, are Wareru, head of the Massho Oni clan, and his son Butsu. Their family makes a profit by working as bodyguards for quite a few establishments, not all of them part of the red light district. Their family also has an almost single-minded devotion to fighting, breaking things, and proving their strength."

" **BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS**!"

Everybody seemed willing to ignore the outburst from the two-horned Oni, prompting Daichi and Issei to do the same and keep their focus on Andre as he spoke.

"And there you have it. The heads of the Kuoh underground scene."

"My my…" Kirin spoke up in a rich, raspy, deep voice, causing a chill to run down the backs of all the men present. "It is only customary for each of us to have one other with us, as our seconds. I thought Gin-san was yours, Andre."

"He is. He's my most experienced employee."

"Then why ever would you have brought such…" The Kitsune allowed her eyes to travel along Daichi and Issei's bodies, licking her ruby red lips before proceeding. "Tasty… Little… Morsels… For? Might they be a gift for little old me?"

The way she punctuated each word had Daichi blushing up an absolute storm, while Issei nonchalantly reached down and re-adjusted himself, much to the visible amusement of Kasumi, and the visible disapproval in the faces of both the snow women.

Andre himself chuckled at this, already expecting the woman to try her best to mess with the two newcomers, before answering. "Stop teasing the boys, you wily old fox. You know teenage hormones can only be pushed so hard before the mind stops responding."

The woman smirked at that, her own eyes curving into arched slits as she spoke. "Too true, that. Break someone too early, and you find yourself a toy down. Though…" Her gaze switched over to the nonchalant Issei. "This one is unruffled. Brazen. Experience, confidence or arrogance? Either way… this sounds like it could be very fun for me~"

Issei narrowed his eyes at the grinning Kirin, his tone serious and solemn as he spoke.

"My ' **Ara Ara** ' senses are tingling."

Ginei tripped in place at that, while Andre face palmed hard. Kirin let out a husky chuckle that did things to the teenage boy's hormones, whereas Kasumi snickered into her sleeve.

The younger of the snow women glared at the young man, while the older one spoke up.

"I too must question the reason behind the presence of these… Young men. To have brought such a sizeable group to the meeting table… Might it not be that you're planning a… Hostile takeover, Andre-san?"

The mood in the room shifted instantly at Shimo's words, with the gazes of the Kunimitsu women sharpening in focus even as they each picked a target. Suzushi gave Ginei an angry glare that seemed to have some history behind it, whereas Ginei responded simply by glaring back, his feet shifting into a different stance even as he clutched his kendo case tighter into his body.

The two Oni started gritting their teeth at that, their muscles bulging under their suits.

"Am I a zoophile for finding kitsune extremely hot?"

Issei's question had everyone else in the room giving him incredulous stares. Seeing those stares, the boy spoke in a defensive tone.

"What? It's a legitimate question!"

" _Hah…_ As your employer, I'm slightly starting to regret having brought you to this meeting."

Issei gave Andre a shocked look.

"What? Why would you regret bringing me here? I'm awesome!"

"You're a pervert." Was the deadpan response from Shimo, Suzushi, Ginei, Andre and Kirin, all in an eerie moment of synchronicity.

Huffing, Issei crossed his arms and looked away, a mumbled " _They're not mutually exclusive_ " reaching the ears of those in the room.

Kasumi lost it at this, laughing up a storm to the point that she had to clutch into her side.

Issei smirked visibly at this, turning back towards the rest of the room and taking a dramatic bow.

"I'm glad at least _someone_ enjoyed the performance."

Ginei blinked owlishly, before turning his gaze towards Issei. "Performance?"

The young dragon nodded sagely as he answered.

"Of course. Can't have my first foray into diplomatic relations – _well, not really first but that first one doesn't count_ – end up degenerating into a fight. If me acting up a bit was all that was needed to help things cool down, well…" Issei finished with a shrug.

Having managed to get control over her laughter again, Kasumi spoke even as she wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. "I feel like you'll be someone very fun to hang around!" She followed that up by turning a teary-eyed look onto Andre, her lips in a quivering pout. "Are you sure we can't have him, Mr. Andre? I'll take good care of him, and feed him, and walk him…"

She allowed her gaze to drift from Andre to meet Issei's directly, her faux naïve face melting into a display of wicked sensuality. "I'll even bathe him and everything~"

Andre could do little more than mutter out a ' _teenager hormones_ ', while Issei spoke up with a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry to say, darling-" He didn't sound sorry at all. "-I'm more of a _Keeper_ , rather than the one to be _kept_." His previously small smirk widened into a hungry thing that had Kirin and Kasumi's eyes fully open in surprise as he spoke. "If you try to 'tame' me you may find yourself being _devoured_ in the end."

The surprise in Kasumi's face faded, replaced by amused glee as she turned towards Kirin. "Mama, I really like this one." Kirin gave the Kasumi a wide grin at that, before responding.

"I understand why, baby. Now if only mama were a few hundred years younger…"

Daichi choked on air at the woman's mention of 'a few hundred years', while Issei cut into their conversation.

"I have a marked appreciation for mature women, especially one such as yourself who has aged gracefully, like a fine wine."

Kirin gave the young man an amused, yet condescending smile at that. "My my, aren't you quite the charmer?"

Brushing off her condescension took no effort at all, a smirk on his face as he responded. "I try."

Issei's arm suddenly turned into a blur, stopping a few inches away from his face, an ice spike trapped between his fingers. Everybody turned towards Suzushi, surprised gazes all around. Those surprised gazes changed, with Shimo's turning into disapproval, Kirin's into mild annoyance, Kasumi's into real annoyance, the two Oni's into interest at the possibility of violence, and Daichi and Ginei's into genuine anger.

Before anyone could do a thing, Issei spoke up, his tone mild.

"You got that one for free. The next one you'll pay for."

Those words were followed up on by a blast of **_Pressure_** that had the three other leaders of the Kuoh underground focusing intensely on Issei, even as their children focused on shaking off the effects of said pressure.

A frown on her face, Kirin was the one to speak up next.

"You know, I thought that she was just being dramatic, but I can see logic behind Shimo's claim of this being a hostile takeover."

Andre face palmed at Issei's actions which completely undid his attempt at venting the pressure in the room, ignoring the desire to light up another cigarette as he spoke.

"Why would I try to take over you guys' places? You lot know that I didn't even want to be one of the 'heads'. The only reason I took the stupid title is because of you guys' persistence. Don't act like any of that has changed since."

The three heads nodded in acquiescence, the invisible pressure each of them released vanishing altogether and allowing Ginei, Daichi, Suzushi, Kasumi and Butsu to breathe clearly again.

"Now that we're _completely and absolutely_ sure that no one will be killing anyone else-" Suzushi's calm façade didn't break even as she conspicuously moved her gaze away from Andre's "Can we please get down to business? Your… eccentricities… Took up a lot of time, in which I could have already explained the reason behind me calling for this meeting."

Seeing that no one intended to interrupt him _again_ , Andre kept speaking.

"First things first, officially introducing the two new faces that are joining us." Andre waved his hand towards Daichi. "This is Daichi, my nephew who has very recently decided to join the 'family business '. And this-" Andre's hand moved over towards Issei, whose countenance had returned to its initial, unassuming one, not that it convinced any of the people present to drop their guards around him. "Is Issei, my latest employee, and the reason behind this meeting in the first place."

Andre nodded at Issei, ceding the 'stage' to him, which he responded to with a returned nod. Walking up to the table in a way that none of the other youths did, Issei cleared his throat before speaking up.

"A source informed us of a new threat encroaching into Japan. A recent wave of mysterious deaths and disappearances is occurring in rural areas, though at the rate it's going on it seems likely for said deaths to eventually reach urban areas. If mysterious happenings keep occurring like this, this whole 'secrecy from regular people' thing we have going is going the way of the dodo.

"Other than that, there's the fact that these mysterious events may soon reach our very own backyards. This means that we need to be more coordinated as far as the elimination of things that go bump in the night go, without alerting either the Devil faction, or the regular government."

Steeping her fingers together, Kirin spoke up.

"How reliable is this source of yours, and how sure are you that they're being truthful?"

"I have no idea about how reliable this source truly is, but I can tell you with certainty that the threat they were talking about is real. I've been keeping an eye on the news and an ear on the ground, and funky stuff really is happening in the countryside. Children going missing from their own beds without anyone noticing, villages of people are falling ill with the same untreatable sickness, families vanishing altogether, with only trails of sludge and slime remaining in their homes…

"It all points towards a deliberate and malicious campaign of supernatural attacks on mundane."

Wareru interjected at this point, his voice sounding like two massive boulders grinding into one-another.

" **Can we smash?** "

Issei shook his head at that.

"We can see enemy action behind the patterns, but we have no idea who or where the enemy is. Moving in too early without any real plans of action could spook whoever is behind this into going down to ground, or it could cause them to escalate in their attacks.

"All we can do at the moment is keep our own city clean, all the while keeping an eye and ear out for new data."

Issei turned towards Andre, prompting the bald man to nod slightly and move back into a more prominent position, while the younger man walked back to stand beside Daichi and Ginei.

Clearing his throat, Andre spoke up.

"And there it is. I called this meeting to both make sure that all of you were informed of this, and to bring Issei and Daichi into our efforts of protecting our slice of Kuoh, and to organize the kids into some sort of… Team."

" **BUTSU STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT CITY!** "

Wareru turned towards his son before speaking up.

" **Butsu be one. Fox girl be one. Snow girl be one. Sword boy be one. Each of new boys also be one. One person smash one thing in one time. If Butsu is smashing thing, then who smashes other thing that need be smashed?** "

Wareru's tortuous mangling of the Japanese language managed to calm Butsu down, having the two-horned Oni rubs his chin as the gears within his head slowly brought themselves into motion, the effort of such showing physically on his constipated-looking face. One could even swear smoke was coming out of his ears.

A look of understanding suddenly passed through his face, leading Butsu to slam his right fist into his left palm as he spoke.

" **WHILE BUTSU SMASH THING, PUNY OTHERS SMASH OTHER THING!** "

Wareru nodded wisely at that, his tone sagely as he spoke.

" **That be meaning of team. Team be people who help smash.** "

The two-horned Oni gave each of the other youths a considering gaze, before speaking up again.

" **BUTSU WANT BE TEAM!** "

"Well…" Kasumi shot Issei a hungry look, barely managing to keep herself from drooling at the young man whose pressure almost caused her to wet herself, before speaking up. "I wouldn't mind joining a team if Issei is in it~"

Ginei and Daichi nodded at that, mirroring the younger Kunimitsu's sentiment – _to a certain degree –_ while Issei himself spoke with a shrug.

"Sure, I'll join a team, why not?"

Shimo gave her daughter a look that was inscrutable by all but said daughter, one which was returned in kind by Suzushi. The two seemed to be having a full conversation through their gazes alone, before Suzushi nodded. She turned her naturally frigid gaze towards Andre before nodding her assent.

Seeing that everybody was in agreement, Andre spoke.

"Well, now that all is settl-"

"Wait just a second, Mr. Andre! There's still something that we haven't discussed yet."

The bald man sighed, turning towards a smirking Kasumi before speaking.

"And that would be…"

"The team leader, of course!"

The girl's words had everyone in the room freeze for an instant, before people started eyeing one-another in significant ways. Andre sighed again, thoughts of ' _trouble-making fox women_ ' running through his mind, whereas the rest of the group seemed to be staring at one-another, then shifting targets and staring more, as if sizing each-other up.

Suzushi spoke up at that.

"That's not really a problem. The choice for a team leader is a very obvious one to anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together." The girl gave Butsu a disdainful look which the two-horned Oni was ignorant to interpret, before continuing in a conceited tone. "Obviously, the person fit to be team leader among us is-"

"Me." Was Suzushi's ending to the sentence, whereas Daichi and Kasumi simultaneously called out "Issei!" Ginei seemed to abstain for the moment, whereas Butsu called out a " **BUTSU STRONGEST IN TEAM!** "

Issei, too, abstained from voting, though his abstention had Kirin, Shimo, Andre and Wareru eyeing him, each of them showing a confusing mixture of emotions.

Shimo was the one to break the sudden silence in the room.

"How unexpected for someone of your… _confidence_ -" The words she really wished to use, arrogance and ego, were merely implied rather than stated "-to not consider yourself someone worthy of commanding a team."

Issei whistled inwardly, impressed at the old woman's ability to disparage him without appearing to do so. By framing his abstention as him not believing himself capable of leading the team, it causes the other team members, and, most importantly, their Parents/Clan Heads, to doubt him, and his competence to lead.

Usually, someone in Issei's current situation would have to make up some sort of excuse or justification to address both the spoken and unspoken words, with a hastily-crafted excuse likely having holes that she could poke into until his argument went the way of a popped balloon.

Unfortunately for Shimo, she chose to do this to someone who didn't need to make up anything to defend his position at this current moment.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Issei spoke.

"We're establishing a team. This means that there will be a point where we'll have to put our lives in each other's hands, something which requires mutual trust. Unless you have some sort of inner personality divination and comprehension tool or ability-" He totally had one, but they didn't need to know about it "-then you have to let this trust build up gradually overtime, meaning that a first step has to be taken."

The brunette allowed his gaze to move through the abandoned warehouse, noticing the fact that everybody's gazes were focused on him, before proceeding.

"Figuring out who each of the group members believes to be capable of leading them through dangerous situations is a good first step. Unfortunately, while most people here have previous history with one-another, and have had the chance to assess a bit of my… Capabilities… I personally have no idea about what each of the people present in this room are capable of, be it in a combat capacity, or in a leadership one. Rather than giving an opinion from ignorance, I decided to see what the more informed individuals would choose."

Issei could have almost sworn that he saw a positive glint in the frosty gaze of Shimo at his words. Regardless of this, the woman spoke up again.

"Are you saying that you would be alright with any of the others present being picked as team leader as long as they showed the necessary skills to do so? Of course, keeping in mind that Daichi-san is in the same position of a newcomer as yourself, and thus, by your own criteria, ineligible to be selected."

' _Let's see you fast-talk your way out of this one, boy._ '

"I believe you misunderstood something a bit, Shimo-san. I believe you inferred from what I said that I'd be willing to be led by any of the people more experienced as far as your stray elimination cooperation pool… Thing... Was concerned.

"Of course, that extra bit of experience with the majority of the members of this tentative team weighs heavily on my likelihood of accepting or rejecting someone as my leader, however it is but one of the factors, and would not single-handedly make me choose."

"Hoh? And what would be a deciding factor for you in your choice of a team leader?"

Ignoring the woman's attempts at tripping him up orally, Issei reached for the buttons of his shirt and started undoing them, one by one, to the surprise of all present.

Each button undone revealed a bit more of toned, muscled flesh, a sight that only Kasumi allowed herself to react visibly to as she leered at Issei, giving her lips an exaggerated lick, whereas the rest of the people present were either neutral, or feeling awkward.

Issei unbuttoned the last button of his shirt, allowing it to remain in place for now, hanging from his shoulders, as his right hand pulled his left sleeve further up from his forearm, revealing a raised groove of scar tissue around his forearm. While it wasn't too tall to the point that it could easily be unnoticed in casual observation, everybody in the room had supernatural senses, and was in a state of caution at meeting others capable of actually hurting them, meaning that the scar stuck out to them like a sore thumb.

"This is my first combat scar. I got it from the recoil of the attack I used to obliterate the magically-empowered form of _The_ Invading Snake, recoil which resulted in my arm almost getting permanently destroyed. This happened less than a week after I first learnt of the supernatural world, and Awakened my Sacred Gear."

Eyes all around the room widened at that, with the people of the supernatural world knowing of the Invading Snake, if even just as a bedtime story.

Issei then proceeded to allow his shirt to glide down his shoulders, revealing his leanly-muscled and heavily toned torso – and a big scar on his chest.

The brunet placed his hand directly over the scar in order to attract the room's attention straight to it, before slowly doing a 360 degree turn, causing Ginei to lowly breathe out " _All the way through…_ "

Issei gave the people more time to stare at his scar, before resuming his words.

"This one was even worse. I got stabbed all the way through by the possessed avatar of an Ancient Blood God, just before said possessed avatar empowered the individual I still despise the most in the universe – _I'll probably take a piss on whatever grave he's got soon –_ granting him a continuously-growing power which skyrocketed him straight towards Ultimate class, all the while corrupting his body and mind. His soul couldn't be corrupted, since it was already pretty rotten."

Issei cleared his throat, successfully averting a rant on _Travis_ – _just the name was enough to cause disgust_ – only to continue explaining his scar.

"I died. Then I got better. _Then_ I proceeded to obliterate the empowered and corrupted douchenozzle off the face of the earth, something the _Moirae_ themselves-" Issei saw the grown-ups flinch at the mention of the weaving old cunts, as expected "-told me I'd be unable to accomplish since my path at the moment would have only led me to death. All of this within 2 months of me joining the supernatural world."

Allowing the new gazes he was being given to slide off of him like water off a duck's feathers, Issei continued.

"Based on my source, things are going to become extremely dangerous sometime soon. If anyone here had the ability to lead the team well enough to allow us to navigate and survive situations like the ones I went through, then I wouldn't have issues with them becoming the team leader."

"If you'll bother lying to us, then at least do it pro-"

"Suzushi," Shimo cut her off harshly "Enough." Seeing the girl's questioning gaze, the older Yuki Onna spoke up. "I… believe that all of this young man's accounts are genuine. Based on his precedents, I believe that having him as the leader of this new team would be optimal for the moment. All in agreement?"

Andre, Kirin, Wareru and Shimo herself raised their hands, followed shortly by Daichi, Ginei and Kasumi. Suzushi crossed her hands within the sleeves of her Yukata, sat back on her chair and allowed a frostier expression to cross her face. Butsu, on the other hand…

" **BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS! BUTSU SMASH REAL GOOD! BUTSU BE LEADER!** "

Before anyone could cut in, in an attempt at appeasing the Oni, Issei himself spoke up.

"Butsu, you're good at smashing things, right?"

" **BUTSU BEST AT SMASH!** "

Issei nodded at that, before speaking up.

"We can all agree that you know _how_ to smash, but you won't always know _who_ to smash, _where_ to find them, and _when_ to do the actual smashing. These are all things that I can learn. By learning these things, I can spare you the job of figuring stuff out, and simply tell you who to smash.

"Isn't it better for me to be a leader then?"

Butsu's face changed again, the rusty gears within his brain grinding against one-another, the result being smoke almost coming out of his ears, and his face looked as if he were constipated.

The Oni eventually nodded at that. " **PUNY LEARN THINGS, TEACH BUTSU.** "

Everyone turned an expectant eye towards Shimizu, prompting the girl to give the most marginal of nods, prompting Shimo to speak up.

"I believe that is it for this meeting. Unfortunately myself and my daughter must make away with hast, to deal with some family issues. If any new information about this whole situation, or the team, is discovered or generated, I'd rather appreciate it if said information were to reach me.

"We'll be off."

With those words, a small snowstorm started up in the room, covering everybody's views and then dispersing completely, having taken the Yuki-Onna with it.

Each individual after that went their own path, all of them with a common thought in mind:

' _Absolutely keep an eye on this Issei kid_.'

 ** _-Chapter, End-_**

* * *

 **FrancoGamerxz here. If you've previously read this chapter already, you might notice a few slight differences in it.**

 **I wrote and uploaded the previous version of this chapter while extremely groggy on sleep ( _Creativity flows through me best during the latest hours of the night, and the earliest ones in the morning)._ This led to me commiting some mistakes, most of them regarding the naming of characters.**

 **In many sentences I intended to say Kasumi, but I ended up saying Kunimitsu, making things very much confusing. That was corrected. It was also brought to my attention that Kirin are apparently a race/entity that is actually opposed to Kitsune, however I did not use Kirin in said context ( _since I didn't even know this context existed_ ), but rather as the first name of a character.**

 **In some occasions I meant to type Suzushi, but I ended up typing Shimizu instead. Also corrected.**

 **Plus, another thing that apparently wasn't too clear:**

 **Kunimitsu is the surname of both Kirin and Kasumi, while their race/species is Kitsune, a type of fox yokai.**

 **Hyo is the surname of both Shimo and Suzushi, with their race being Yuki-Onna, snow women.**

 **Massho is the surname of Wareru and Butsu ( _bestest smasher_ ), and their race is Oni.**


	26. New school cool

_**RESSURECTION!**_

 **Guess who's back, back again~**

 **This dude! And I have returned bearing a gift of appeasement for all of you eager readers in the form of a new chapter! Let us rejoice together, for the heavens have granted me the blessed inspiration!**

 **Now that that bit of melodrama is done with, it's time to go onwards into the story itself...**

 **After a word from our sponsor, RAID SHADOW LEG- No, just kidding. I want to thank Tyric Gaia for his continued support of me as a patron.**

 **If you wish to, you can find me at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- Francogamerxz " and leave a donation for yours truly. Of course, only do so if you wish to. Even if you cannot or simply do not wish to donate, you can still show your support by continuing to read my story, and leaving behind reviews with your thoughts, opinions and criticisms!**

 **Now, Onwards!**

* * *

"Hah..."

Lilith ignored the mild cloud of steam that had puffed out in front of her face, pulling her thick coat tighter against her body as her eyes swung around the park, seeking out a particular visage.

She gritted her teeth lightly, inwardly cursing herself for not having worn thicker clothes, gloves or a cap in the belief that her coat would be enough to stave the frakishly powerful autumn chill that had fallen upon the country.

She distracted herself for a bit by allowing her eyes to take in the yellow and reddening leaves precariously hanging from the treebranches, showing none of the strength and freshness they had been carrying over from spring all the way to the end of summer, allowing the colors to remind her of the warmth of a blazing fire.

Her attempt at self distraction was utterly innefective, however, due to a breeze blowing in through the trees, ripping a sneeze out of her, and causing her to huddle deeper into herself.

"Good grief..."

The purplette perked up at the familiar voice that had come from behind her, only for something large and fluffy to suddenly fall over her head and cover her all the way down to her legs, instilling her with a sense of comfortable warmth.

Shaking her head free of whatever it was that landed on her, Lilith turned to look at the source of the voice, only to meet the noticeably amused gaze of her boyfriend Issei. Noticing the fact that he was clad in only a sweater and a pair of jeans as far as clothes go, she looked back down at whatever it was that was keeping her warm, noticing that it was a particularly thick, fur-lined coat.

"You came out in this cold without clothing yourself properly? You lived most of your life in germany, and some of it in amsterdam. You should know how to dress for the cold."

Pouting, Lilith stomped her foot while crossing her arms over her chest, speaking in a petulant tone.

"But Luxuria had enchantments that created a temperate climate, so we didn't really have to deal with the cold there!"

"Oh~" Issei said teasingly, "Elucidate further upon the greatness of Luxuria, _Princess Lilith_ ~"

The girl's pout became even more pronounced at that, causing Issei to relent and stop teasing the girl, instead causing her to let out a squeak as he pulled her into a full-body hug, causing her feet to leave the ground.

He pulled her tight against his chest, appreciating the naturally sweet scent of her hair and the softness of her body, while Lilith took the opportunity to tightly wrap herself around Issei, resting her head against his chest and taking in a deep breath of the distinctly... _Manly_ scent that always hung around him.

The young succubus mewled weakly as her boyfriend let her back down, giving him a questioning look which he responded to solely with a smirk and a wink, before taking her hand in his and pulling her in through the copse of shedding trees and deeper into the park.

Lillith enjoyed the warmth she felt from simply holding hands with Issei, the way the his big, strong hands - _strong enough to even break concrete_ \- softly wrapped around her own hand, the slightly thickened skin and calluses from training juxtaposing with his tender grip giving it a feel akin to leather-covered velvet against her own unblemished hands, causing her to blush lightly at the innocent gesture.

Looking away from the linked hands, Lilith mumbled.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to keep your coat, Ise? Aren't you feeling cold as well?"

The brunet turned towards Lilith and gave her a small smile, his tone upbeat as he spoke.

"Nope! Ever since the pyramid I haven't really felt cold. Actually, neither intense heat nor intense cold seem to affect me much. I can feel the difference in temperatures, and know that it's hot or cold, but it won't really bother me.

"The only reasons why I'm dressed as I am instead of just wearing a tee and a pair of shorts are because it'd attract too much attention for me to just ignore the cold... And because my mom insisted I wear a coat."

Lilith grumbled good-naturedly about ' _Dragon-men with convenient racial abilities_ ', before speaking up again.

"So, Ise... Where is it we're go-"

The girl's words were interrupted by a gasp at the sight of a picnic basket atop a checkered blanket, both placed underneath one of the freshest-looking trees, it's leaves seeming to be fresh enough to not shed all over them and their food.

She turned towards Issei in surprise, only for the brunet to lightly peck her on the lips , before walking to the blanket, seating himself and patting down on the spot next to him.

Lilith sat down next to Issei, her eyes still looking around the clearing they were currently in.

"Ise... This... Why...?"

"Well... We've been unable to spend time romancing one-another due to the emergence of more and more complications, so I decided to correct that." Raising an eyebrow, Issei continued, "Did I do something wron-!"

He was interrupted by a pair of lips smothering his own, Lilith kissing him so intensely that she all but stole his breath, her tongue erratic in it's efforts to explore the inside of Issei's mouth.

The brunet responded by wrapping one of his arms arond Lilith's waist and another around her shoulders, pulling her tighter to him and taking control of the kiss, before - _regretfully_ \- pulling back from the lip-lock and leaning his forehead against hers, chuckling lightly before speaking.

"As much as I'd like to jump directly to doing this sort of stuff, I'd rather we ate our food before it frosted over in this cold."

Issei saw the internal struggle in Lilith's eyes, her desire to jump his bones clashing with her desire to appreciate the romantic situation her boyfriend had created for the two of them. Wanting to not let his effort go to waste, Issei decided to use his secret weapon to tilt her over to the light side.

"I asked my mother to cook for our date..."

The brunet's smirk widened further at the sight of Lilith's stomach winning over her libido, the two pulling appart from one-another before Issei reached into the basket.

"I didn't know whether you'd prefer japanese or western food, so my mom made a little bit of both, so... Onigiri or sandwiches?"

Grabbing her chin, Lilith put on a pensive look, before finally settling on a food selection.

"Onigiri, please. I want to taste your mother's food when she's working in her natural element, so to say."

The brunet handed the girl a riceball, taking a ham sandwich for himself, before pouring some steaming hot green tea from a thermos into a pair of cups.

Leaning into her boyfriend, Lilith nibbled on her onigiri and blew on her tea to make it cool enough to not burn her mouth, watching as Issei ignored the temperature and just sipped on the burning hot tea as if it were cool water.

The two ate and drank for a bit, before Lilith spoke.

"So, Ise... How's your week been so far?"

"It's been... Interesting, to say the least. You remember that team thing I told you of?"

"The one with the Youkai and your two workmates?"

"Yes, that one. Well, earlier that week I arranged for us to meet up..."

* * *

"Hello Issei~" Kasumi said in a suggestive tone, a mischievous smirk tugging at her already vulpine features, "I'm glad that you wanted to meet up with me today, but I don't really see the need to have everyone else present."

The kitsune put a finger on her chin, affecting a sweet, angelic look, as if butter wouldn't melt in mouth as she spoke.

"Unless you're into exhibitionism and want them to wat-"

"I will be very displeased," Suzushi broke in frostily "If you summoned us just to watch the two of you flirt, Hyoudou."

Daichi cringed at Suzushi's tone, whereas Ginei ignored her out of sheer habit. Kasumi watched Issei for his reaction, whereas Butsu alternated between flexing his left and right arm, his mind as far away from this conflict as possible.

The brunet ignored Suzushi's tone as he spoke.

"I wouldn't do something that asinine. I called all of you here to get an assessment of your skills."

Everyone shifted their focus to Issei at that, watching him intently as he spoke.

"I want to know what each of you is capable of doing first hand so I know how to best organize us strategy-wise, and I also want to figure out who among the lot of you is the most suited to be my second, to lead in case I am ever made unable to do so."

The brunet walked backwards, placing himself at the center of the empty clearing they had assembled at and spreading his arms wide.

"In order to accomplish both of those goals, I will have the lot of you fighting against me."

Seeing the hesitant look on the faces of his teammates - _except for Butsu, who looked like he had just been told christmas had come early_ \- Issei continued.

"If the lot of you are nervous about having to fight me, then don't be." He smirked at them in a purposefully taunting manner as he spoke, "I'll take it easy on you guys and limit myself in strength. The lot of you should be able to beat me... Even if just barely."

His smirk widened at the sight of poorly hidden outrage in Suzushi's face, the tightening on the corners of Kasumi's eyes, the cooling of Ginei's gaze and Daichi's uncertainty.

Butsu, on the other hand...

" **SMASH PUNY MAN!** "

Everyone else's eyes widened when Butsu leapt at Issei, his fist streaking in a downward blow.

 **BOOM!**

Dirt and grass flew throughout the clearing, forcing those present to cover their eyes. A cloud of dust slowly spiraled down and away, revealing the sight of a newly formed crater, centered around Butsu's fist.

"Good strength. Shit aim, though."

Butsu turned as fast as he possibly could in an attempt at hitting Issei, who had just appeared behind him, only to find himself blasting off in sudden, uncontrolled flight towards Daichi and Ginei. The two stepped aside to allow the Oni to pass inbetween them, Ginei in a deliberate movement, and Daichi with a look of absolute surprise at the overly smooth reflexive motion, their eyes tracking Butsu as he dug a small trench into the ground until reaching a stop.

Kasumi, Suzushi and Ginei turned wary gazes back towards Issei, each of them showing tension in their posture, while Daichi internally freaked out about the source of his sudden agility.

The brunet cracked his neck, his tone airy as he spoke.

"You guys might want to get some distance from here."

Before any of them could say a thing, a collective chill ran down their spines. A thick cloud of magic started suffusing the air, causing the onlookers to slightly sag in place as a feeling akin to lead-weighted clothing settled onto each of their shoulders.

They all turned towards where Issei was facing, their gazes falling on the hunched-over form of Butsu, who was releasing so much magic that the air around him distorted in a visible haze, each of his horns lit up with a black glow.

"Or you could just stop and stare as the dangerous Oni charged up his - likely destructive - power. That is also a viable option for someone with a set of fully functioning survival instincts."

Daichi, whose ability to sense magic was the least developed among the group had enough awareness to cringe at Issei's bland sarcasm, whereas Ginei, Suzushi and Kasumi simply stared at Butsu in ever-increasing surprise, a common thought running through all of their minds.

' _HE NEVER SHOWED THIS LEVEL OF STRENGTH!_ '

Noticing that the others weren't snapping out of whichever fugue they were in, Daichi saw himself forced to tug at Ginei's arm, pulling the swordsman along with him as he ran towards the Yuki-Onna and Kitsune, surprising both of them by easily hoisting each of them onto a shoulder before he kept running, stopping only when he reached a distance that he felt safe watching from.

Suzushi, after having been put down by Daichi and leaving her magic-induced trance prepared to verbally rip the kind young man to shreds...

" **SMASH!** "

Before a shockwave ripped through the clearing, the force of which had them digging their feet into the ground in order not to be knocked down.

Their gazes moved back towards the fight, only to register the sight of Issei standing with his arms crossed in front of him, blocking Butsu's meaty fist, with a pair of cracks under his feet showing that the ground had suffered the damage of their clash moreso than either fighter.

Issei pushed Butsu back, only for the Oni to show a lightness of foot disproportional to his size as he blurred from sight for the distant watchers as soon as the balls of his feet touched the ground, before another shockwave was released as Issei flew a couple of feet back.

Issei's eyes narrowed before he vanished, an explosion issuing where he had been standing just an instant later.

He reappeared a few feet away from Butsu, his shirt turned into little more than tatters. Despite this, Issei spoke in an even, calm tone.

"You're going to have to do better than that, big guy."

" **RAAAAAAAGH! BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS!** "

The black glow reappeared around Butsu's horns, it's intensity even stronger than before, before a similarly hued glow appeared around each of his fists, tendrils running up from the circular glow around the fists and spiraling up the arms, reaching all the way up to his shoulders.

" **BUTSU SMASH!** "

The Oni flew towards Issei, his fists firing off like a pair of machineguns, forcing Issei to bob and weave in order to avoid getting struck. The brunet's eyes widened as he felt Butsu's knuckles grazing his cheek for an instant, which he responded to with a sweeping kick that forced the Oni backwards.

He swiped his thumb against his cheek, narrowing his eyes at the sight of a droplet of blood at the tip of the thumb.

' _That was odd... I could've sworn I was dodging all blows by the same margin..._ '

He refocused on Butsu, who was stomping around and banging his chest at the sight of blood.

' _He's way too full of himself for having simply drawn a single drop of blood. I need to correct him._ '

Relaxing, the brunet started strolling towards the now guarded Oni, his open stance bringing a equal levels of caution and surprise into Butsu's demeanor. Reaching close enough to Butsu that he had to look up to meet his gaze, Issei surprised everybody, especially Butsu, by belting him on the chin in a sudden move that had the big, muscular Oni reeling.

Said punch was followed up on by a kick to the face that got a nosebleed out of Butsu, causing the Oni to turn even more serious, the black-light tendrils around his arms increasing in amount and in how tight they squeezed his heavily muscled flesh.

" **BUTSU SMASH!** "

The Oni released another series of punches so fast that it generated afterimages, creating the illusion of dozends of fists assaulting Issei all at the same time.

"Heh... _**Useless!**_ "

Issei responded by releasing a barrage of his own, meeting Butsu punch-to-punch, a series of smaller shockwaves causing his hair and clothes, including his mostly-torn shirt, to whip about randomly.

He started gradually speeding up, aiming his punches towards the openings in Butsu's thoughtless barrage, however...

' _W-what? How are none of my punches hitting! It's as if the're being deflected, or dragged away from their targets!_ '

Indeed. Each time Issei aimed a punch at an opening in Butsu's barrage, he found said strike inevitably meeting one of Butsu's fists, against his wishes and expectations.

' _This probably has something to do with the glow around his fists, and I just need to figure out a way to counter whatever this is._ '

Paying better attention to Butsu, a grin made it's way to Issei's face as an idea percolated through his mind.

Issei _**ROARED**_ , the sheer shockwave from the act pushing Butsu away from him, before ripping the sleeves off of his shirt, each of his hands holding the tip of the long strips of textile fabric.

Seeing Butsu getting back on his feet, Issei dashed towards him before releasing another barrage of blows which, once again, met Butsu's darkly-glowing fists, even when he accelerated somewhat.

However, unlike in the previous clash, Issei smirked at Butsu before calling out " _ **Reinforcement!**_ "

Butsu suddenly found both of his arms tightly bound to one-another by the long strips of fabric, each of them glowing from purple-colored circuitboard-like markings.

' _Got him!_ '

Issei followed up on this by somersaulting over Butsu, the Oni's arms being bent into very uncomfortable angles when Issei landed behind him and pulled hard on the reinforced fabric, slowly choking Butsu out with his own thick forearms.

The Oni struggled in place, but soon found himself slowly succumbing to unconsciousness, his vision swimming as his strength gradually vanished. The Oni's entire body went limp shortly afterwards, the black glow emmanating from his horns and fists vanishing with his consciousness.

Releasing Butsu, Issei turned towards the stunned onlookers and raised a single questioning eyebrow.

Gulping, Ginei stood back up, patting the dust off of his Hakama's behind from when he had involuntarily fallen onto his butt during the intial clash between Issei and Butsu, discarding his Kendo case and revealing a light blue-colored scabbard, with white snowflake imprints adorning it.

He drew the blade that rested within it, revealing a 4 foot long blue-tinged nodachi, it's hilt being mostly made of a green, leather-like material with golden inlays; the blade exuded a feeling of cold and the smell of snow, and though as a nodachi the blade was meant to be wielded two-handed, Ginei was gripping the hilt one-handed, with no visible strain.

The handsome, Kimono-clad, college-aged male took measured steps until he stood a few feet across from the now-shirtless Issei, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Issei's eyebrow raised when he saw all of the tension leaving Ginei's body as his breathing reached a certain... Cadence... Small clouds of steam emerging from his nostrils even as he shifted in place, spacing his feet into a wider stance with a lower center of gravity.

He raised his left hand, hesitating for a bit before allowing it to join his right one on the hilt of his nodachi, which he had positioned such that the hilt was almost parallel to the ground right beside his head, while the sword itself was pointed downards, it's tip almost touching the ground due to it's characteristic curve, the bladed edge pointed outwards, toward Issei.

When Ginei opened his eyes, they seemed to be wholly devoid of emotion or hesitation, as if they had been replaced with two chips of glass - _or perhaps ice_.

Shifting his left foot slightly forward, Ginei exhaled through his mouth, a large cloud of steam making itself visible, before he swung his sword, calling out in a frigid tone.

" **Kosetsu**." _(Snowfall)_

An arch of pure snow leapt from the bladed edge of the nodachi, travelling at a speed high enough to allow the heavily compacted substance to break bone on contact.

Issei retaliated by clenching his right fist, allowing a purple glow to slightly emerge upon it before punching the wave of snow, causing the cold, white substance to explode and surrounded Issei and Ginei, making it seem as if winter had suddenly rolled in.

Ignoring the temperature drop caused by the snow falling around him, Issei kept his eyes on Ginei.

" **Yukimichi.** " ( _Snowtrail_ )

Ginei started running towards Issei as if on solid ground, leaving behind no footprints, before going for a two-handed downwards slash aimed at Issei's chest.

Issei jumped back to avoid the attack, only to click his tongue at the sight of a thin cut on his chest due to his inability to fully dodge the attack.

' _The snow is packed really thick, and I have to wade through it to move properly, while he can just walk on it like as much normal ground. Makes it annoying to move fast._ '

" **Yukigumo.** " ( _Snow cloud_ )

The falling snow started coalescing, as if magnetically drawn to together, resulting in the creation of a large white cloud around Issei, blocking his eyesight.

" **Uzumaku Yuki.** " ( _Swirling snow_ )

Ginei's words preceded the parting of the snow cloud Issei had been surrounded by via oversized, extremely-sharp ice chrakram, rotating at incredibly high speed.

' _What a vicious technique... It seems Ginei isn't holding back after what he saw happening to Butsu. Doesn't want me to even have a turn._ '

Issei tensed his legs, prepared to leap away from the path of the chakram...

" **Tsumetai Makihige.** " ( _Cold tendril_ )

Only for a series of snow 'tentacles' to emerge from the snow Issei had been standing on/in, wrapping around him in an attempt at keeping him immobile.

"Not bad, but..."

A small flash of yellow prompted Ginei to leap away from where he had been standing, doing so just an instant before electricity exploded from Issei's body, blasting away the snow that had been surrounding and trapping him, and causing the chakram made of ice to explode, ice shards flying out in many different directions.

"...You're going to have to do better than-"

" **Jigoku no Fubuki.** " ( _Hellish blizzard_ )

All of the snow and ice suddenly started moving, rising up into the air and falling into a spiraling orbit around Issei. All of it suddenly picked up speed to an extremely high degree, keeping Issei blind and immobile even as sharp ice chips randomly shot around within the ice cloud, forcing him to weave around them in order to avoid being punctured.

Narrowing his eyes, Issei lowered his center of gravity as he expected the attacks aimed at him.

" **Chokuritsu.** " ( _vertical_ )

"Got you."

Issei leapt away from the localized blizzard, ignoring the ice shards that had smacked into his shoulder and chest areas, leaving small marks behind them, before turning back towards the slowly settling snow cloud and speaking.

"What a sneaky attack... But I should have expected that from previous experience, should I not, Suzushi?"

When the snow cloud fully settled, it was to reveal the frustrated form of Suzushi, surrounded by a thick ice crystal twice as big as her, with an equally if not even more frustrated Ginei, his sword trapped within said crystal, mere centimeters away from making contact with the snow woman's head.

Pulling his blade free from the ice, Ginei's eyes had a visible amount of heat behind them as he spoke.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Dispelling the protective crystal that had surrounded her, Suzushi sneered at the swordsman as she answered.

"I was trying to actually land a clean hit on him, something that both you and the simpleton failed to do!"

Ginei gritted his teeth, his skin manifesting goosebumps and his lips losing some of their color even as he spoke between chattering teeth.

"If you didn't just randomly dash into my snowy field I wouldn't have had to pull back on my last attack! It would've hit!"

The girl waved dismissively at Ginei, her tone condescending as she spoke.

"I'm _sure_ it would, you _had him on the ropes the whole time_ , but I believe it is time you allowed a _true_ ice user to fight, rather than just a pale imitation such as yourself and your-"

"If you say anything about my family-"

"HEY!"

Both Suzushi's condescending words and Ginei's heated response were interrupted by Issei, who shot the two an utterly disbelieving look as he shook his head.

"With a dangerous threat standing right in front of you, you decided to waste your time and energy fighting one-another?"

Shooting Suzushi one last look of anger, Ginei walked away from the fight while drawing his kimono tighter against his torso, retrieving his blade's sheath and re-sheathing it before making his way towards Kasumi who, noticing the blue tone that lightly tinged his lips and the tips of his fingers, generated a fireball to hang around him, an action which he responded to with a thankful nod before placing his sheathed nodachi back within his kendo case.

Back on the battlefield, Suzushi stared Issei down with as much seriousness as she possibly could, something which the brunet responded to by smirking, driving the Yuki-Onna's demeanor to further coolness.

" _ **My turn**_ _._ "

A massive amount of ice exploded from the ground around Suzushi, causing all of the clearing around them with the exception of the area the observers - _including a recently-awakened Butsu_ \- were at to be completely overwhelmed by massive ice spikes, ensuring that Issei had nowhere to dodge to.

"Well... That was something."

Suzushi instantly raised her hands, causing the spike Issei had settled atop of to explode into branching formations of sharp, pointed ice, forcing him to leap away. Each time he landed on a different spike, smaller icicles would instantly start growing from them, forcing him to keep moving.

Bored of this, Issei cocked back his arm before punching down, releasing a blast of air pressure that obliterated a segment of the sea of ice, creating a circular area free of the cold substance.

Rallying her power again, Suzushi raised both hands, causing all of the ice to converge around the circular area Issei was in, cutting off any possible exits.

" _ **Dodge this.**_ "

She whipped her arms into a cross position, causing all of the ice to rush into the area and resulting into a massive explosion, causing ice fragments to start raining above the area.

The sense of smug satisfaction that had been building up within Suzushi at her victory was completely obliterated by the sound of Issei's voice right beside her ear.

"Attacking a teammate with the intent to kill... How _cold_ of you..."

Before she could do anything more than gape, Issei's hand had already curled around her dainty neck, his fingertips lightly pressing into her jugular in what was a very clear message.

' _Mess around and I'll_ _ **End**_ _you._ '

This caused Suzushi to settle down as Issei directed her towards the others, before pointing at a spot next to Kasumi, which she sat down at without any further protests.

Issei looked each of his teammates in the eye, before speaking up.

"I hoped for more from you lot."

Allowing his gaze to settle on Suzushi first, he spoke.

"You are all power, and no finesse or technique. The only thing you did for the duration of our 'fight' was simply create more ice, throw it at place 'x', then create even more ice, rinse and repeat. Your opening move was great, create a battlefield where you hold the advantage, but everything after that was a poor showing.

"When you saw me able to navigate freely, rather than do something creative such as making ice golems to keep me busy while you set up your killing field, your just created more ice spikes, as if I couldn't just keep finding the blunt regions to stand on.

"Believe me when I say that my stamina is much greater than yours, meaning that I could keep branch-hopping long after you became unable to create any more ice spikes/branches.

"Your last move would've been alright, had I not shown just _a few seconds before_ that I could obliterate the ice you created with _the shockwave of a punch alone_.

"For Kami's sake, be a little creative with your attacks! Create sharp ice birds that fly around harassing your opponents, make the floor slippery to trip up enemies and then spike them, create some ice golems to engage the enemies physically, just... Do something different than 'Ice spike!"

Seeing that the girl had looked away, utterly refusing to meet his gaze, Issei turned towards Butsu.

"Bustu, same problem. Your failure was that you kept doing the same thing, over and over again. To your credit, your attacks at least seemed to be working, but it would be better if you showed some variance. If you try to smash something in the same way many times, the thing you want to smash will learn how to not get smashed."

The Oni sat back down as he digested this piece of wisdom, the rusted, mostly unused gears within his head slowly grinding against one another in their attempt at motion.

Issei then procceeded to shift his gaze towards the much healthier-looking Ginei.

"You, Ginei, on the other, showed off some good stuff. Different moves to do different things, from setting up the field, to blocking my ability to see, that giant ice wheel thing that you paired with those snow tentacles, and then creating a storm of snow and shrapnel to keep me trapped and blind as you prepared your strongest slash... That was some good shit.

"I'd call it a perfect showing were it not for the fact that you took way too long to get into a fighting state, meaning that before you were in that 'frosty mode' of yours, anyone could've simply punched your heart out or something;

"You took a while to build up momentum, as the intervals between your first two or three techniques was significantly bigger than the intervals between your latter ones; as soon as something unpredictable happened you completely lost your focus and came out of your 'fighting mode', and as soon as you did, you started suffering an accelerated case of Hypothermia."

Ginei nodded at Issei's words, being aware of his own failings.

Issei surprised everyone by turning towards a smirking Kasumi and shouting out.

"AND YOU!"

The kitsune jumped in place at the overly loud address, pointing a confused finger at herself.

"Yes, you! You did absolutely nothing the entire fight!"

Chuckling nervously, Kasumi scratched the back of her head as she spoke.

"Well, Issei, you see, I'm kind of not very strong in direct combat. Even if I tried tossing a few fireballs your way, the best I could've done would be roasting the others while they fought you."

The brunet crossed his arms over his chest and raised a single eyebrow at that, causing the kitsune to start sweating nervously.

"Really? That was the best you could've done? Couldn't you have, oh I don't know, _put me under an illusion_?"

Kasumi cringed at Issei's tone, wincing each time he made a new point.

"You could've done something as basic as make me see double, our blind me, or something of the sort, and it would've instantly put any of the others in an extremely more advantageous position for the duration of our fights.

"Instead you just sat there, watching, deriving amusement from me thrashing your teammates."

The girl cringed further at Issei's utterly disappointed tone, her eyes drifting away so that she didn't have to meet Issei's gaze only to end up falling on Daichi.

"Hey! Why are you complaining about me not doing anything, but not saying a thing to the big guy over there!?"

"Daichi is currently a non-combatant. I'm working on bringing him up to snuff myself, so I already know what he can and cannot do, and the fact that he still isn't anywhere near combat-ready. The only reasons Daichi was here today were for the social integration factor, by which I mean spending time with his teammates, and to allow him to observe a few fights, something that he hasn't done before."

Kasumi drooped in place, her ears flattening against her head like a sad puppy, while Suzushi spoke up.

"Even if all this is true, you said that you were going to limit yourself to a level of strength we should be able to defeat, but after looking back into all of our fights, I don't see a way for any of us to defeat you.

"Were you just lying to us?"

Rather than show any anger, irritation or disgruntlement at the accusation, Issei reacted by snorting in amusement, before speaking.

"I thought you were smarter than this."

Aware of the strength differential between Issei and herself, Suzushi supressed her irritation at the insult and spoke between gritted teeth.

" _I am quite sorry, but I wish you would elaborate further_."

Smirking at her in a way that showed his immense amusement in the face of her annoyance, Issei opened his mouth to speak, only for someone else to do so first.

"Teamwork."

Everyone turned towards the source of the softly-spoken word, causing Daichi to fidget in place at the extra attention placed upon him. Pushing some of his nervousness aside, Daichi managed to speak up.

"S-senpai really _did_ say that he was g-going to limit his strength so you guys could beat him... But... He never said that any of you would be able to beat him individually. He only ever refered to ' _the lot of you_ ' when setting up the conditions of the fight.

"That means that while none of you guys was likely to beat him at that level of strength, you could've done so if you fought together from the start."

"Correctamundo, Daichi my boy! I expected all of you to team up to fight me, as I'd been told you guys worked together to eliminate strays. Now I know you probably did something as asinine as simply fight them one on one, even when you could've easily dealt with the situation quicker through the power of teamwork."

The brunet looked at Suzushi, Ginei and Kasumi each in turn, with all of them avoiding his gaze. Sighing, he spoke.

"While the lot of you were worse than I hoped... You were still definitely better than I expected."

Seeing the surprised looks in the faces of his teammates, Issei favored them with a small smile as he spoke.

"We'll be training every weekend. I want your individual kinks ironed out, and your cohesion as a team to actually come into being, rather than lingering in the realm of non-existence."

Issei's words cause Kasumi to lose the kicked puppy look and replace it with a hopeful one, Ginei to nod gravely as his gaze lingered on his covered blade, Daichi to fidget in place at the - _surprisingly exciting_ \- expectation of combat training, and for the frosty chips that were Suzushi's eyes to soften slightly.

" **BUTSU LEARN TO SMASH DIFFERENT, SO THING NOT LEARN TO NOT GET SMASHED!** "

Everybody jumped at the sudden bellow from the Oni after his brain successfully processed Issei's criticism. With the mood utterly broken, Issei allowed each of his team members to go do whatever it was they did after combat training.

* * *

Issei poured himself a new cup of tea after having finished his narration and took a sip, soothing his speech-parched throat, while Lillith spoke.

"Wow. That really did make for an interesting week."

The brunet snorted into his tea, barely succeeding in not doing so out of his nose, before speaking.

"That wasn't even the most interesting part of the week."

Lillith blinked owlishly at that, turning her surprised gaze towards Issei.

"Really?"

The brunet smirked slightly at that.

"Yup. The most interesting - and intense - part of my week was..."

* * *

"...And for those reasons, I'll be moving out."

Gorou and Miki Hyoudou traded confused looks before turning and staring at their stone-faced son as if he had just grown a second head.

Reaching her hands out and taking Issei's into her own, Miki spoke up.

"Ise, sweetie... Are you okay?"

With a face looking as if it had been carved from stone in how serious it looked, Issei nodded at that before responding.

"I am quite well, why do you ask?"

Gorou placed his own hand atop his wife and son's, his tone of voice low and soothing as he spoke.

"You just asked us to come into the living room saying that you had something important to tell us, sat down across from us, stared unnervingly for about 10 minutes before saying ' _And for those reasons, I'll be moving out_ '.

"Are you absolutely sure you're okay? If you're feeling mentally overwhelmed you could either reduce or stop your working hours, and we could book you with a therapist..."

The brunet sighed at that, his murmured ' _It always works in anime_ ' going unheard by his parents, before speaking up.

"I'm sorry if I confused you guys, so let me go from the start.

"Mom, Dad... I want to move out."

Issei's words utterly surprised his parents, causing them to have to take a few minutes to get their minds back into control before Miki spoke up.

"Why exactly do you want to move out, Ise? Are you feeling uncomfortable here at home? Suffocated? As if you didn't have enough space for yourself? I know that a growing boy gets a different set of mental needs, including boundaries, but if it's something like that you could've simply talked to us, and we would've done our best to accomodate you..."

This time, Issei was the one to take his mother's hands into his own, before speaking in a soothing tone of his own.

"It's not that. Nothing like that. I love you guys, and I loved living here in this home... I still do."

"Then why..."

"Because I need to."

Issei's tone turned stronger at that, though it did not lose the underlying tenderness for his parents, or his desire to make them _understand_.

"I... I have Goals. Ambitions. Big ones, that most people would call unwise to as much as dream of holding, much less actually attempting to fulfill, however...

"I'm actually succeeding. I have a greatly-paying job, I'm at the top of my year academically, I've got great and loyal friends, the best parents in the world, and I've managed to even advance in my Harem plan, with my girlfriends knowing about eachother, and actually _knowing_ eachother. They're aware of the harem plan, and helping me in turning it into a success.

"However, I'm doing all of these things and succeeding mostly because of you guys. I get to put forth all of my focus and energy into doing all of those things because I don't have to worry about stuff like paying bills, buying groceries, doing laundry, or any other such tasks.

"But... I want to start doing these things as well. I want to see how well I can do when I have to take care of myself, as well as keep working towards my goals. I want to try to go into the world while I'm still young enough for the world to forgive me, since if I were to try the same thing as an 18 year old, I'm sure that any landlord, grocer, teacher or even my boss would be way less forgiving for any mistakes that I make than they would be at this moment, while I'm still 15.

"I want to learn to be independent. Please, allow me to do so."

Mama and Papa Hyoudou, after fully listening to Issei's words turned towards one-another and engaged in what seemed to be a telepathic conversation of some sort, with twitching and tilting of lips, eyebrows and heads added to the mix.

Mama Hyoudou eventually let out an exasperated sigh, before Papa Hyoudou turned back towards their son, placing a strong hand onto his shoulder as he spoke.

"Go on and live your life, son. There always comes a time in a boy's life where they make a choice, one that proves that they are ready to move on from being a boy or a young man into a 'Man', with a captial M, and I can see it in your eyes... This is it for you. The moment you chose to graduate from boy to **MAN**.

"But be aware that, as a man, the world will treat you differently. Have higher expectations for you. I hope you are ready for that."

Placing her hand on Issei's cheek, Mama Hyoudou spoke, a complicated smile on her face.

"It's a bittersweet moment, when a parent notices that their baby is no longer a baby, and is growing up. Normally that moment occurs a bit later on in life, but... You always did like to surprise people with the unexpected, mhm?" Miko chuckled lightly at that, flicking a tear from the corner of her eye as she spoke, "It's not everyday that a 7 year old chooses to fill in a 'Future dream' worksheet with the words 'Harem master'."

Issei placed his own hand atop his mothers, while Miko kept on.

"Go ahead, Ise, and make a man of yourself, but don't forget to take care of yourself, call if you need anything, and remember that our door is always open to you if you ever decide to come back. This is your home as much as it is ours, and it will remain as such for as long as you wish.

"Do pay us the occasional visit, though."

Smiling teasingly, Gorou cut in.

"And don't be surprised if you ever find out your mother 'happened to be around the neighbourhood' of wherever it is you go live and decides to pay you a visit, possibly with a bento in tow, or after 'having accidentally bought extra at the grocery store'."

Smiling widely, Issei pulled both of his parents into a hug, his voice lightly smothered yet still perfectly audible as he spoke.

"You guys are the best parents ever."

* * *

"Wow... So, was all that stuff you said about your reasons true?"

Issei waved his hand in a so-so motion.

"Part of it was true, as I definitely want more independence and privacy than any other 15 year old should have. The other part, however..."

His tone turned serious at that.

"I am either constantly stumbling into the supernatural, such as my school selection or our meeting, or being found by it, like with Susano'o. If It's going to keep occuring, I want it to happen as far away from my powerless, civilian parents as possible.

"They raised and protected me for 15 years. It's time for me to do the same for them."

"So..." Lillith spoke suggestively, "Since you're living alone now, what do you say we cut our date short and go straight for the _main course~_?"

The brunet let out a rueful chuckle before responding.

"I haven't moved out yet, actually. I'm still hunting for a sensibly-priced appartment that will host a lone 15 year old, and that doesn't have any restrictions as far as company of the opposite gender goes. A remarkably difficult find."

Lilith pouted at that, before sullenly going back to eating food from the picnic basket, this time snagging a sandwich of her own.

Patting her head until she seemed distinctly less upset, Issei spoke.

"Now that you've heard about my week, how about you tell me how yours went?"

Lilith blinked at that, before surprising Issei by jumping to her feet, a wide smile on her face as she spoke in an excited tone.

"I don't need to tell you! I can just show you!" She hurriedly shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth, drawing a chuckle out of Issei at the mental image of a squirrel that emerged, before washing it down with the remainder of her tea, and then hurriedly tossing everything back into the picnic basket.

Bemused, Issei finished his own food, helped Lillith stored everything into the basket before allowing himself to be dragged by hand.

* * *

"Finally, after weeks of tedious work, including signing mountains of paperwork, having a bunch of meetings with the devils running this city, and generally being unable to spend time with my boyfriend, I'd like you to introduce you to..." Lilith spread her arms wide open in a showy display "Saint Leona's All Girls Academy!"

Issei whistled appreciatively at the campus that outsized even that of Kuoh academy.

"It's... Pretty big."

Lilith nodded at that.

"Yup. It's an exclusive all-girls academy for the rich and famous. Other than having heiresses from supernatural factions and such, the academy will be hosting the daughters, sisters, cousins and nieces of the rich and the famous.

"While the name says 'Academy', this will actually be boarding school, with dorms for it's various students. I'll actually be sharing a room with Jackie/Hylda when the academy opens it's doors.

"As a boarding school for hormonal, pubescent teens, the academy will also need to have various different activities that function as an outlet for any excessive build ups of energy, cabin fever, and anything else of the sort.

"The academy has all sorts of different facilities, such as pools, sports fields and courts, horse stables and tracks, and even auditoriums for both theatrical or cinematic, as well as musical performances.

"There's a lot more to it, but those are pretty much the basics."

Blinking owlishly, Issei turned towards Lilith and gave her a weird look as he spoke "The basics, you say."

"Mhm!" The girl said with a nod.

Allowing his face to spread into a teasing smirk for an instant, Issei promptly schooled his face into one of perfect neutrality before speaking in a tone as pompous and formal as possible.

"Whatever you say, _**Ojou-sama**_." ( _Young Lady_ )

Lilith puffed her cheeks at that, childishly beating her fists against Issei's chest.

"Stop teasing me, you meanie!"

Pulling Lilith into a hug to keep her from 'hitting' him, Issei allowed himself a massive smile of satisfaction.

Date day was a total success.

* * *

"Well," Issei said as he stared at the stacked-up boxes in front of him "It took less time than I expected to find the appartment and fully move my stuff out."

' _ **Yes**_ ' Ddraig spoke into Issei's mind ' _ **And I'm quite sure that your Yakuza friends had absolutely**_ **nothing** _ **to do with either of those things.**_ '

The brunet shrugged before responding.

' _When your friend offers his underlings up as free labor, who am I to refuse? Plus, if my admittance to this apartment block was in any way unduly influenced, I can say with total certainty that it wasn't due to my choice or instruction._ '

' _ **Yeah, yeah, you humans and your legalese**_.'

' _...Ddraig, how did you learn that word?_ '

' _ **...My previous host was really into soap operas and detective shows.**_ '

' _Sure, your_ host _was the one into it..._ '

' _ **Annoying, disrespectful brat.**_ '

' _Tsundere old dragon._ '

' _ **Shut up!**_ '

' _Love you too, Ddraig!_ '

The welsh dragon sighed internally, knowing that keeping the conversation going would result in little more than him getting more and more annoyed, and thus decided to go back to slumbering.

The brunet chuckled lightly at that, going back outside and handing out a few canned sodas to the men that had moved his things from his old home to his apartment, and then up the stairs to the floor he was on, which was the 6th one, as thanks.

He watched them peel off in the white van they had used as transport, before going back upstairs to his new house.

After a few flights of stairs, just as he was about to reach his new door, Issei bumped into someone, causing said someone to bounce off of his powerful body and land butt-first on the ground.

Holding out a hand, Issei spoke up.

"Are you alright, miss?"

The girl shook her head, her silky black hair whipping around her head as she seemingly fought to recover her balance. Seeing the outstretched hand, the girl took Issei's hand and allowed herself to be helped up, before patting off the dust that had stuck to her skirt.

"I'm fine, thank you very much."

She seemed to stare at him from up close before speaking up.

"Are you new around here?"

"Oh yeah, I finished moving in just a few minutes ago, actually. Everything's still boxed up yet."

"I understand how that feels. I moved here recently as well! Oh, where are my manners? My name is Yuuma. Amano Yuuma."

She stretched out a hand, which Issei took into a handshake.

"Hyoudou Issei."

The girl smiled beatifically at him, sunshine and rainbows appearing from behind that smile.

"I'll see you around, Hyoudou-san."

"Yeah."

Issei then watched as the girl made her way downstairs. He looked down at his hand, an eyebrow raised as he thought.

' _That was a pretty solid handshake for such a slip of a girl. Plus, her smile was totally weird. Well, that's really none of my business, is it? I've already got enough on my plate without adding to my own load._ '

Shurgging off that interaction, Issei procceeded into his new home, a spacious appartment with a large living room, occupied by a white leather couch smack dab in the middle of the room, and a large flatscreen TV that Kensuke had gifted to him as congratulations for moving out from his parents' and that the boys had procceeded to mount on the wall.

Other than that, the room was adorned by a few empty shelves, a coffee table in the space between the couch and the television, an AC Unit, a dining area a bit off to the side of the main living room area, with a small doorway leading to the kitchen, and, at a small distance from the kitchen, there was a door leading to the bathroom main bathroom.

There was a door at the far end of the room, opposite to the entrace door, that led into the large bedroom which Issei had already furnished with an extra-large King-sized bed, his desk, which already had his study materials stored in it, and the computer atop it, a bedside table with a lamp on it. The room also sported another AC Unit of it's own. Across the bed on the right there was a door leading to an ensuite, and to the left there was a set of sliding glass doors that led out to a balcony, with the glass doors being covered in heavy drapes to prevent any unwanted sunlight from cutting his sleep short.

Stretching, Issei walked up to one of the boxes with the intent of getting the rest of his home in order, using a thin trickle of lightning along his fingernail in place of a boxcutter before reaching into the box and taking out a pair of headphones, which he stared at nostalgically.

"I remember these! These were the headphones that I got on the plane when I was returning from vacation! I bought them because the catalog said that they were great at cancelling out noise..." Issei's eyes widened, his tone slow and incredulous as he kept on "...Which would have come in handy in allowing me to get a full night's sleep back when I was living with my parents..."

He stared at the headphones, his eyebrows twitching at a steadily increasing rate, his jaw clenching as a throbbing vein appeared on his forehead.

" **FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-** "

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_


	27. The Sexy Secretary

**Gasp! I'm back within a reasonably short time frame from the last chapter! This must be a sign of the apocalypse!**

 **Well, whatever. I'm here, I'm writing, deal with it. (** _ **Actually I really hope you keep enjoying the story**_ **)**

 **This chapter will see a change in how I frame different types and sources of speech from previous chapters, for the sake of clarity and for framing for future chapters, changes [**

 **But! Before that, I'd like to thank Tyric Gaia for their continued support of myself and the story! If you too wish to support me, you can do so at ' Pat reon -dot- com -slash- Francogamerxz ' .**

 **As I said in previous chapters, any type of support is, while not at all mandatory** _ **\- freedom of choice and such, especially since I'm really no-one's boss**_ **\- fully appreciated, be it monetary support, be it a like, follow, review, spreading awareness of the story, or even just a kind word of support, or a bit of constructive criticism!**

 **Now, onwards!**

* * *

"Regular character Speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " ( _Whispering, hissing_ )

" **Powerful Speech** " ( _Backed by Killing intent, Presence, sheer raw power, etc_ )

' _Regular character thoughts_ '

'Mind reading/Telepathic conversation'

 **[Ddraig Speaking out loud]**

 **[** _ **Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei**_ **]**

' _ **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking**_ '

* * *

"EHHHHH!"

"EHHHHH!"

Issei, Aika and Akeno were forced to cover their ears at Motohama and Matsuda's loud shouts.

"YOU'RE LIVING ON YOUR OWN!?"

"YOU'RE LIVING ON YOUR OWN!?"

"I'm really starting to regret having told you guys this."

Akeno turned towards Issei, making use of Motohama and Matsuda's apparent speechlessness to speak up.

"What made this happen? Were you kicked out by your parents or something?"

"Nah," Issei said while carelessly waving the thought away, "I decided that I wanted a bit more of space and independence, so I found myself an appartment to live in."

Akeno seemed mollified by that, while Aika nudged Issei with her elbow repeatedly, her eyebrows wiggling as she spoke.

"So you have yourself a bachelor pad all ready to accommodate you and any girl you take over for displays of perversion and debauchery? Have you done so already? Does your room look like a _Jackson Pollock_ painting under dark light already?"

Aika's question had the two other members of the Perverted Sage Trio leaning forward, their eyes showing eagerness akin to that of apostles waiting to receive the word of their lord, while Akeno only chuckled behind her sleeve.

The brunet shrugged lightly, his tone light as he spoke.

"Not yet. Haven't really broken in the bed. Or the couch. Or the bathtub. Or the dinnertable. Or the floor. Or the-..."

Motohama, Matsuda eyes widened with each added word, while Aika scrabbled to pull up her notebook, hurriedly taking down each of Issei's words, a perverted giggle bubbling forth from her chest.

"-then you spread a bit of whipped cream on the-"

Akeno gasped, the red blush currently streaking across her nose covered by her sleeve, which also worked to suppress her increasingly heavy breathing.

"-and the rubber ducky bounces off the ceiling fan-"

Aika's hand was more blur than flesh by now, even as her own eyes and mouth widened and widened, matching the perverted baldy's and the three size scouter's. Akeno was just barely succeeding in keeping her sleeve up, hiding the fact that her face was mirroring theirs.

"-and if the lube is strawberry-scented, then you-"

* * *

Somewhere far away from Kuoh, a black-haired fallen with blond bangs and a goatee felt a sudden tear rolling down his right cheek, his hand reflexively going towards it.

"Azazel," Penemue, one of his companions, spoke, "Are you alright?"

Rubbing the corner of his eye and staring curiously at the water that had gathered on his finger, Azazel ignored his fellow Grigori leaders' concern for him as he spoke.

"I don't know why, but I suddenly feel really happy. As if someone was telling a fantastic story of their ascencion from boy to man... But don't mind me, and do go on."

All of the other leaders stared at Azazel as if he were the weirdest existence in the world, before Penemue went back to her speech.

"-our response to the proposal was to send an agent of ours..."

' _I don't know who or where you are,_ ' Azazel thought, ' _But I_ will _find you, and I_ will _buy you a drink, in accordance to the teachings of the Broble. In the name of the Bro, the brother and the brodie spirit, Bromen._ '

* * *

"-and that's when you use the stool and the banana peel."

Aika's pencil was worn almost to the extreme, Akeno's chuckles had all but created a menacing cloud around her - _one that the others were instinctly shying away from_ \- and Motohama and Matsuda were simply staring at Issei, dumfounded.

Matsuda was the first one to recover from his stunned state, his tone half-questioning, hal-disbelieving as he spoke.

"I-is that even possible? Is that something humans can do?"

"Anyone can do it," Issei said while shrugging, "If they stretch properly beforehand."

After discreetly wiping the trail of drool running down the side of her mouth, Akeno spoke up.

"You say that like someone with first-hand experience in this particular... Act."

"Well, it turns out," Issei started, "That I have first-hand experience in a variety of acts."

"I wonder..." Aika spoke up, her pencil still running across the notebook in an approximation of a printer's activity, "How many types of sex have you had before?"

"...How many pieces of bread have you eaten in your life?"

"!"

The collective response to Issei's statement was of impressed - _breathless, in the girls' cases_ \- surprise. Regaining his breath, Matsuda spoke.

"What did **fuck** did you do during the break?"

"What _**didn't**_ I do during the break?"

The bell rung before anyone else could say a thing, prompting Issei to speedwalk back towards the school building, his smirk unnoticed by his friends.

Aika, Akeno and Motohama followed after silently after him, while Matsuda grumbled under his breath.

" _That only raises more questions!_ "

* * *

"So, Issei..."

The small group - _sans Akeno, who was absent due to club activities_ \- turned towards Aika. The brunet raised an eyebrow questioningly, prompting Aika to continue.

"When are you going to show us your place?"

Issei paused for a second, his hand going to his chin as he thought for a while, parsing out his mental schedule, before speaking up.

"Well, I don't really have much to do for a good while. I finished unpacking and organizing my place already, laundry's done, everything is washed and clean, and I only have to go to work later on tonight... I guess I could show my place to you guys right now, if you want?"

Aika nodded immediately, while Motohama and Matsuda took the time to look at one-another, then at Issei, then back at one-another. The two seemed to be having a small conversation, before turning back towards the other two, Motohama acting as the spokesman for them.

"Me and Matsuda have EroSoft's newest game to get through, so we can't really go today." Motohama shrugged as Matsuda nodded in agreement. "You'll have to show us some other time."

"EroSoft's newest game? You mean ' _Extradimensional Soft Girl Puri-cyan_ '?" Issei whistled at the simultaneous nod from his friends. "I heard it was really well-received, both amongst long-term fans of EroSoft's previous works, and by new players. You'll have to lend it to me after you guys are through with it."

The brunet turned towards Aika at that.

"Guess it's just you and me today."

Having said that, he walked off, moving towards the subway station while waving Motohama and Matsuda off above his head, Aika keeping pace beside him.

Motohama stared at Issei's back, an instense feeling rising from his chest at the sight. His arm shot up into a military salute, tears streaming copiously down his face.

' _Go forth, old friend, into the realm beyond that which is achievable by us mere mortal men. Godspeed, Issei._ '

He snuck a look at Matsuda through the corner of his eye, his body unwilling to break the salute towards their friend - _his back still looking unbelievably wide even as a distant speck_ -only to see his own salute mirrored. The gaze of the two boys met, and they knew at that moment that their thoughts were in perfect synchronicity for that one moment.

Many of the other boys that had been hanging around the gates of Kuoh academy, while not as vehement in their congratulation towards Issei, still gave his shadowed form a respectful nod.

* * *

"Welcome to ' **The Dragon's Den** '!"

Aika, after leaving her shoes at the rack beside the door, took the time to look around Issei's place, ignoring the way his last three words seemed to resonate within her very bones.

The girl wandered slightly around the living room, her fingers gliding along the spines of various books that had been placed along the wall-mounted shelves.

"This place looks way more normal than I expected it to be."

Issei shrugged at that, plopping himself onto his comfortable couch and resting his head against the backrest, his eyes closed as he spoke.

"My budget isn't still at the point where I can install a sex swing or two in the living room, but just give it time."

Even with his eyes closed, Issei could almost physically feel the raised eyebrow Aika had directed at him.

"That was sarcasm just now, wasn't it?"

A small smirk made itself visible on Issei's face, his tone teasing as he spoke.

"Who knows?"

Aika rolled her eyes at that, allowing herself to fall beside Issei on the couch - _just barely keeping herself from melting into a boneless mass at the level of softness underneath her_ \- and speaking up.

"If it were someone else saying it I'd easily figure it out, but you have the shamelessness to say something like that and really mean it, so I can't be really sure."

Issei snorted at that, before the two collapsed into a comfortable silence.

"I talked to Lilith."

One of Issei's eyebrows lightly rose at that, an amber gaze settling on Aika as he responded.

"Really?"

"Mhm."

The two collapsed into another silence, before Issei spoke up.

"What did the two of you talk abo-!"

He was interrupted by Aika, who had just planted herself atop his lap, each of her legs to one side of him, her short skirt only barely hiding her inner thighs and beyond from view. Issei raised his head from the backrest, both of his eyes open and focusing fully on the blushing visage of Aika with a level of intensity that almost left the girl breathless.

The girl ran a finger across Issei's jaw before going down his neck.

"We talked about the possibility of my joining this collective you guys seem to be running."

Issei placed a hand on each of Aika's hips, his voice deepening into a slight purr as he spoke.

" _And what did she say about it?_ "

Aika shivered in place, the red tint across her nose and cheeks spreading down slightly towards her chest. Ignoring all of these things, she answered Issei's question.

"She said that I had to show that I truly wanted to be a part of this. That I had to show _you_ in a very... _**Direct**_... Manner."

Issei leaned his body forward, his forehead resting against Aika's and his lips a mere hair's breadth away from hers as he spoke.

" _Are you going to?_ "

The girl responded by all but attacking his mouth, her teeth nipping at his lower lip even as she tried rocking back and forth across his lap, her progress halted - _rather frustratingly_ \- by Issei's strong hands.

His tone was strong, yet full of a burning want, as he next spoke up.

" _I want you to think well about what you're going to do next, Aika. If we keep going on, we'll end up doing something irrevocable, and I'll grow even more attached to you than I already am. I won't want to let you go away, and I'll want you to become_ _ **my woman**_ _in all ways that matter._ " He tightened his grip on the girl's hips, before all but growling at her. " _ **If we do this, you will be mine, now and forever.**_ "

Aika placed her hands atop Issei's at that, pulling them off and getting back up to her feet, under focus by his intense eyes. Ignoring the way his very gaze caused her skin to tingle and break out into goosebumps, Aika reached behind her, fiddling with something out of Issei's view, before her skirt fell down her legs, revealing a pair of racy, silky, red panties.

Meeting Issei's gaze with her own, the girl sealed her fate with two simple words.

"Take me."

Issei responded by patting his thighs, prompting the now skirtless Aika to climb back over his lap. He placed his hands back over her hips, but, unlike before where he used them to halt her motions, he used them to aid Aika's grinding against his pants-clad bulge, the two of them ignoring the way that their clothes were getting drenched in the glasses-clad girl's juices to mantain eye contact.

Issei then leaned forward, his mouth all but engulfing Aika's in a possessive mimicry of a regular kiss. Aika could only react by moaning into Issei's mouth, feeling as if she were gradually being engulfed by a dangerous beast - _and enjoying every second of it_.

She reached down to unbutton her corset, easily allowing Issei to pull off her shoulder cape, before the two carelessly tossed the pieces of clothing onto the coffee table behind them.

She started reaching down for her shirt's buttons, only to squeak in surprise as Issei grabbed it at the back and _pulled_ , causing all of the buttons to spray out and away from her, leaving her clad in only her underwear.

" _That~_ " She panted into Issei's neck, " _Was the only shirt I had on my person._ "

Issei grunted at that, single-handedly unclasping her equally lacy, equally racy, red bra while his other hand went down Aika's back, tracing the clear, smooth skin and settling on her posterior.

"I'll give you one of mine, they're too tight anyways."

The girl looked up at Issei at that.

"What do you mean too-"

She was interrupted when Issei _**Flexed**_ , causing the overstressed, undersized shirt he had been wearing at the moment - _identical to all of his other shirts_ \- to simply tear apart, baring to Aika a set of muscles she hadn't seen since the swimming club's attempt at recruiting the brunet.

She allowed her eyes to drink in the magnificent sight before a particularly harsh move from Issei ground her panty-clad clitoris against the bulge showing against his trousers, causing her to shudder, her hands tightening on his shoulders hard enough for her fingernails to leave light indents against the skin.

"I'm sick of being this overdressed."

Issei proceeded to wrap an arm around Aika's waist and lifting her with that single arm, the act of strength mixed with the visible flexing and shifting of muscles against skin on his arm causing the girl to have to bite back a groan, before her eyes went back down, registering the sight of him dextrously unbuttoning his trousers, before raising himself slightly from the couch so that he could pull them down, and off.

Aika's already inflamed lust only grew more at the sight of Issei's bulging member being held back by a visibly strained pair of boxers - _and were those purple wisps on the ellastic band?_ \- causing her to bit her lower lip.

She did not quite manage to bite back her groan when her hot, wet kitten fell atop Issei's member, the thin layers of fabric between them allowing her to feel it's pulsing, throbbing hardness against her core.

The brunet kept up the grinding motion even as his mouth started nipping at Aika's neck, before slowly trailing down her skin.

" _Ah~_ "

The girl gasped when she felt Issei's lips reach the top of her breasts, before a seemingly longer-than-average tongue ran down an unmarred breast, circling around a light pink areola, before rapidly flicking her hardenned nipple, the slick trail of saliva left behind feeling both warm and cool against her skin, like cold lava, if such a thing were possible.

Aika's moans petered out into short gasps as she felt herself come closer and closer to release and Issei, noticing thing, proceeded to fully engulf the girl's nipple, even as he sped up their mutual grinding, seemingly uncaring of the large puddle of slick that had run down and across his thighs and onto his couch.

" _Ah... Ise... I'm about to... HIYAN~_ "

The girl seized up for an instant, her body wracked by shudders as her core ejected more and more slickness, before she fell limply against Issei.

" _That..._ " she said breathlessly and inbetween pants, " _Was my strongest orgasm. Ever._ "

She pooled her strength together, straightening her back so she could meet Issei's gaze at an equal height. She lightly pecked the brunet before whispering against his lips.

" _Thank you..."_

She then reached below herself, her fingers trying their best to wrap around the fleshy, boxer-clad bulge, as she spoke.

"It's my turn to make you feel good, Ise."

The brunet complied with the girl's wishes for now, releasing her hips and allowing her to climb down from his lap. She went down to her knees in front of him, which put her at face-level with Issei Jr., before reaching below him for the boxers' ellastic band and pulling, causing Issei's previously trapped cock to spring to freedom, the monolithic pillar of flesh defiantly pointing upwards, as if the lust fueling it was enough to pierce the heavens themselves.

She did her best to wrap one of her hands around the fleshy pole - _not noticing the fact that she had reflexively licked her lips at the sight of the purplish head_ \- mentally noting the fact that she could feel Issei's heartbeath through the pulsing member. Keeping that thought to the back of her mind, Aika pulled the member down towards her mouth, giving the crown a soft peck before allowing her tongue to glide against the slit, which was by now releasing a noticeable amount of clear-colored fluid.

She started slowly stroking her partner - _soon to be lover's_ \- cock, noticing the fact that her own juices had slicked things up enough that she didn't even require any lubrication to mitigate friction.

Despite this lack of need of lubrication, Aika still allowed more of Issei's meat to slip into her mouth, relishing the hiss he released when she pressed her flattened tongue against the underside of his head, and the way that he placed both of his hands atop her head, yet allowed her to progress at her own pace, as if telling her ' _I can have you at any pace I want, but I'll let you explore_ '. Feeling as if her pride had just been challenged, Aika started slowly going down Issei's cock, her lips and tongue leaving behind a trail of saliva against the member, only to stop somewhere along the middle, knowing that any attempt at going deeper would result in little more than causing her to gag.

Instead of trying to keep going, Aika started bobbing up and down the amount of flesh she was capable of successfully engulfing, all the while one of her hands stroked the remainder of Issei's cock, and the other softly played his his balls.

Issei grunted at Aika's ministrations, noticing that behind her utter lack of experience there existed a heavy amount of eagerness, and a healthy helping of natural talent. He softly caressed her hair with one hand, the other one clearing the tears that had built up at the corner of an eye when she took a particularly deep bob.

However, as everything else, all good things must reach an end. Issei, having been backed up ever since his return from Luxuria, felt the characteristic tightening of his testicles announced his imminent finish, prompting him to speak up.

"I'm close."

Aika heard Issei loud and clear and, rather than pull her mouth away as most others in her position as a first-timer would have done in an attempt at avoiding the end result of her ministrations, proceeded to double her speed, even as she shifted her hand's hold of Issei's twins, allowing her fingers to glide softly against the natural creases of his sack.

She felt his balls pulsing strongly once before drawing themselves up into his body, something which coincided with Issei's cry of "I'm coming!". Any mental preparations she had made for the moment was completely tossed aside at the veritable flood of sticky semen that flooded her mouth, forcing her to start swallowing rapidly.

Issei's balls kept pulsing within her hand, however, simultaneously as his cock jumped within her mouth, each of the simultaneous motions sending another blast of jism into her mouth, until the sheer volume became too much for her to keep swallowing, causing Aika to free the member from her mouth, only for it to paint her in white almost cheek-to-cheek.

She gave Issei's calming member a few last pumps to get him the most pleasure possible from this single ejaculation, before lightly slapping his tigh. Noticing that his focus was on her, Aika opened her mouth wide, revealing the fact that it was still almost full of semen, strings of it hanging from the roof of her mouth and small trails running down the corners of her lips. She then procceeded to gulp it all down.

She smacked her lips, her face creasing down softly as she analyzed the load she had just eaten.

"It tastes... Good. It was supposed to be salty, according to everything I've read before, or maybe even slightly bitter."

Issei, allowing his hand to keep softly petting Aika's head, snorted before speaking up.

"I've got a particularly healthy diet, and I eat a lot of pineapple."

"I'll say," the girl said wryly, her index finger scraping off a thick clump of goopy semen from her cheek before bringing it closer to her eyes for better observation. "You can just see the health in this load. I swear, I've seen bukakke scenes with less cum than what you just released. It's a real pity, though."

"What is?"

"I wanted us to go all the way today, but after a load like this, you'll probably..."

The girl trailed off incredulously, her mouth opening widely at the sight of Issei's cock slowly perking back up into full hardness, as if it hadn't just released a motherlode all over her face.

She turned her incredulous gaze from Issei's cock to Issei himself, only to be met with a confident, amused look in return, Issei's tone smug as he spoke.

" _Hoh_? Did you, by any chance, believe me to have been done?"

"W-what? B-but... Are you... Is this even possible?"

Issei shrugged at Aika, responding to he sputtering questions in a casual tone.

"Do you think your eyes are lying to you?"

Her temporary speechlessness was replaced with a surprised shriek when Issei hoisted her over his shoulder.

The brunet kicked the boxers that had been hanging around his right ankle off, before standing up from the couch he had been sitting on and walking towards his bedroom, his cock bobbing ahead of him as if it were the one dictating their path - _it might as well have been, anyways_.

Aika, who had been stuck staring at the state they had left the living room - _the couch, to be more specific_ \- suddenly found herself being flung against a very big, very soft bed, while Issei stood above her, his figure reminding her of a marble statue from how cut and well-defined he was. The fact that he had various droplets of sweat running down his body only added to the effect, causing Aika to bite her lower lip as her lust inflamed to levels even higher than before.

She watched as Issei climbed atop his _very_ large bed, walking on his knees towards her. He reached her legs and started climbing higher, only to stop at waist-level, his hands reaching for the waistband of her panties before slowly pulling them down, revealing her pink, juicy, slightly fuzzy snatch.

Aika had no real warning before she felt the brunet diving into her folds, his fingers, lips and tongue enthusiastically exploring every nook and cranny of her most intimate of places, coaxing a series of pleasured moans from her.

She felt him prod at her opening with a fingertip, said fingertip's intrusion coinciding with the flick his tongue gave her clit, causing her to shudder and gasp at the wave of pleasure that hit her.

Issei kept flicking her clitoris to and fro with his tongue, even as he added a second fingertip to her hole, before allowing them to go slightly deeper into her, causing her juices to flood all over his hand. He felt her walls slowly contracting and relaxing simultaneously with her needy pants, prompting him to pull back his fingers.

" _Why'd you sto-oh!_ "

Aika felt the bulbous tip resting just outside of her opening, her gaze meeting Issei's as he spoke.

"Remember what I told you, Aika. This is your last shot at backing out. Otherwise, you're _**mine**_. _**For good**_."

The girl responded by wrapping her arms around Issei's neck, locking her legs around his waist and hugging him close so that her lips were right next to his ears.

" _Take. Me._ "

Issei's response to her request was to slowly inch himself downwards, allowing his fleshy spear to split Aika's folds and slowly sink into her soft, warm, _absolutely drenched_ flesh, stopping at her gasp when he reached a certain barrier.

Biting her lip, Aika allowed her suddenly tense body to relax as much as possible, before nodding into Issei's shoulder, her eyes tearing up as he pushed through her maidenhead, doing away with it altogether.

" _Congratulations for graduating into adulthood,_ _ **my**_ _Aika_."

Having said that, Issei slowly pulled back before sinking a bit deeper than before, causing the girl to grunt in slight discomfort. He did so again, and again, and again, slowly thrusting in and out with increasing depth until Aika's discomfort faded completely into the background, replaced by a small, intense burst of pleasure, which was followed upon by milder, yet constant ones.

" _I'm alright,_ " Aika breathed into Issei's ear, " _You can go faster_."

After she said that, Issei pulled back until only the very crown of his member was inside...

" **HNNG**!"

Before sheathing his full length inside of her, his groin smacking against her butt with a noisy clap.

" _Oh... I feel so full..._ "

Aika's fingernails dug into Issei's shoulderblades and back, leaving behind slightly reddened trails as he slowly pulled away from her.

"!"

Soon enough, the brunet was thrusting into and out of Aika's depths at such a fast and hard pace that his hips were all but a blur, causing the girl to fill his bedroom with shrieks, grunts and moans better suited for the production of an adult movie.

" _OH! AH! YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!_ _ **YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS! FILL ME UP, YOU BASTARD! USE THAT MONSTER YOU CALL A COCK AND ABSOLUTELY RUIN MY CUNT! RESHAPE IT! MAKE IT YOURS! DO IIIIIIIIITTTTT!**_ "

Issei ignored the way her strength crossed over into the supernatural treshold as she spoke, and the feeling of **Tantric Energy** flooding his room, to focus completely on making absolutely sure that Aika was ruined for any other man.

He relegated the surprise at Aika's fingernails' ability to pierce his skin and draw blood to a corner of his brain, focusing instead on biting into her collarbone, drawing a lustful shriek from her even as he further marked her as his.

" _I'M GONNA... I'M GONNA... I'M GONNA..._ **AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!** "

Issei ignored the fact that Aika's banshee-like shrieks were likely being heard as far as across the street from his apartment block, focusing only on the fact that her wet core tightened around him like a vise, it's spasms and contractions around him feeling as if her body was trying it's absolute best to coax a load out of him. He responded in kind.

A single, gruff grunt next to her ear was all the warning Aika had before she felt herself being filled up. Even though she knew it was a physical impossibility, she almost allowed herself to believe that she had been pumped full of burning magma from how warm Issei's cum felt flowing within her.

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_ "

An explosive orgasm, more intense than any other she had felt during this whole day, suddenly made itself known right at the tail end of her previous one, pushing her to further depths of pleasure than she knew existed.

By the time this last orgasm petered out, Aika was lying limply on the bed underneath Issei, her glazed eyes barely registering the sight of him withdrawing his wet member from her hot hole, before he tossed himself beside her, drawing her into a tight hug.

" _ **Mine.**_ "

The girl smiled goofily at that, her blissed-out mind responding on it's own.

" _Yours._ "

The two rested for a while, recovering from their mutual pleasure, until Issei spoke up sardonically.

"We didn't use a condom."

The girl hummed happily, enjoying the sight of the white things that still lingered behind her eyelids, making themselves visible every time she blinked.

"I came inside of you."

Aika reached down, her fingers dipping into the puddle of jism flowing from her previously virgin hole and bringing them up next to her face, playing with it.

" _Mhm, you did_."

"We used no protection."

Aika's brain had recovered a bit more by now, enough for her to actually be cognizant and to participate in a conversation.

" _You_ used no protection."

Seeing Issei's questioning - _and quite hopeful_ \- gaze, Aika elaborated.

"Ever since my talk with Lilith, I've been on the pill. I wasn't sure when I was going to make a move on you, but I prepared for it regardless." The girl giggled at the obviously relieved look on Issei's face as she kept talking.

"As much as the though of your strong, sweaty body climbing atop of me, _forcing me into a mating press before_ _ **pumping me full of your hot cum, breeding me like as much as a wild beast**_ -" Issei pushed the image those words elicited aside in order to keep Issei Jr. from doing anything more than twitch, knowing that Aika's body likely wasn't capable of taking any more for a bit, "-makes me all hot and bothered, I believe that I am still too young to be a mother, or you a father."

"You are absolutely and completely correct, my Ai-chan."

Issei chuckled at the girl's blush, pecking the tip of her nose before stretching and getting back to his feet.

"I'll take a quick shower first, and run down to the laundromat to give your clothes a quick wash. I'll wake you up when I'm done so you can clean up as well."

Aika gave Issei a thumbs up before turning over onto her side and falling fast asleep.

A quick shower and a set of casual clothes later, Issei had a basket full of laundry under his arm. As soon as he stepped out of his apartment he met up with his neighbour, Yuuma.

"Oh hello there neighbour!"

Yuuma flinched at Issei's greeting, giving him a sheepish smile as she spoke.

"Hello..." She seemed to be having an internal debate before speaking up, a massive blush completely covering her face. "You two were really... Noisy. I think the whole complex heard you two."

Chuckling lightly, Issei rubbed the back of his head as he spoke casually.

"Yeah, we got a bit intense back there. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a load to take care of. By which I mean laundry. See you around!"

And having said that, Issei cheerily made his way downstairs towards the apartment complex's basement, where the various washing and drying machines were located.

'Amano Yuuma', better known by her true name of Raynare, allowed her 'shy, sheepish smile' to fade as soon as Issei went beyond the stairs, a sneer marring her face even as she she entered her room.

' _A cocky guy like him genuinely making a girl scream like that? I don't think so. For a girl to go as far as to say the things his partner did, either the guy has to be some sort of super-experienced playboy, which I doubt someone his age can be, or she must have been faking it._ ' Her sneer turned into a smirk as she spoke. ' _The girl was a hell of an actress, though, to scream the way she did, with so much emotion it almost sounded real. She should know that doing this sort of thing to bolster her boyfriend's ego will eventually lead to him developing into a shit lay, though. Oh well, live and learn and all that jazz._ '

Oh, if only Raynare knew how wrong, yet how right, she was.

* * *

A grinning Aika happily waddled alongside her smiling boyfriend/lover, her arms wrapped around his own for support as much as for a display of affection, as he, now in his work uniform, escorted her, who was clad in a boy's long-sleeved button down mixed with the rest of her Kuoh uniform, towards the residential area of the more affluent side of Kuoh.

"We _have_ to do this again!" The glasses-clad girl said with excitment, only to wince as she accidentally took a particularly long step. "After I stop feeling like I got torn in half, of course."

Issei laughed good-naturedly at that, his free hand patting Aika's head.

"Do it enough times and you'll get used to it eventually. Until then you'll have to settle for some painkillers, an anti-inflammatory ointment and bed rest."

The girl smiled wickedly at Issei as she spoke.

"I just hope I don't get addicted to all the-" She stared another teenage girl that had been switching between looking at her scandalously and Issei appraisingly in the eye as she spoke in a deliberately higher volume, "-ABSOLUTELY MIND-BLOWING ORGASMS YOU CAN GIVE A GIRL! BETWEEN YOUR MASSIVE COCK, YOUR STAMINA AND YOUR PENCHANT FOR SMASHING ALL OF THE RIGHT SPOTS, IT ISN'T JUST ANY RANDOM BITCH ON THE STREET THAT CAN TAKE YOU!"

Issei watched with an amused smile as the other girl - _and pretty much everyone else around them at that moment_ \- blushed a deep red, shooting the two of them scandalized looks before increasing their pace. He turned a questioning gaze towards Aika, receiving a shrug in response.

"It was pretty bold of that girl to so obviously check you out when you're walking right next to your visibly waddling lover. I wanted to see how far her boldness went."

The brunet's smile widened slightly, his tone amused as he spoke.

"Never change, Aika."

The two of them collapsed into silence, walking past a series of increasingly larger houses, before Issei found himself being pulled into a halt by Aika. He stared at the home they had stopped in front of, before turning his gaze towards Aika. Then the home. Then Aika. Then the home. Then Aika again.

"When you said your family was well-off, I didn't expect it to be 'living in a massive mansion'-level of well-off."

"Does that bother you?"

"Not really. Just surprised. Rich girls aren't usually very down-to-earth." Issei smirked slightly at his next though, " _Brosus_ knows Lilith has her fair share of 'princess'-moments if you spend enough time around her."

Aika chuckled amusedly alongside Issei, before the two collapsed back into silence.

"Do you want me to walk you in, or..."

"No, no, I'm alright." The glasses-clad girl went onto her tip-toes so she could give Issei a peck on the lips, before waddling towards the large gates that separated her home from the rest of the area and pressing the doorbell, her face placed right in front of the camera.

Issei watched incredulously as a golf cart rode down from outside of view, likely from the back of the property, being driven by a grey-haired, grey-bearder, glasses-clad butler.

The cart stopped in front of the large gates - _gates which procceeded to open on their own_ \- before the driver spoke up.

"Welcome back, young lady Kiryuu."

"I've already told you before, Kinben, you can use my first name."

"And I have too told you, young lady Kiryuu, that I, the measly and insignificant Majimena Kinben, respectfully refuse to be so casual towards my esteemed employers. I have worked diligently for the Kiryuu family for over 40 years already without breaking protocol a single time. I do not intend to throw this record away so easily, young lady Kiryuu."

"Alright, fine!" Aika said as she sat down on the backseat of the golf cart, pretending not to have noticed the glare Kinben had shot at an utterly amused Issei at her wince, before speaking up again. "Is anyone else home yet?"

"Master and Mistress Kiryuu have yet to return from their business trip, but the older young lady Kiryuu has already returned from her musical instruction."

"So only nee-chan again, huh..."

Aika turned back towards Issei, smiling softly at him as she spoke.

"Bye-bye, lover-boy! See you tomorrow at school!"

She then signaled her butler to drive, waving at him until he stopped being visible.

Issei, for his part, could only stare half-bemusedly at the sight of the massive gates slowly drawing themselves closed right in front of his face.

"Huh. So that was a thing."

Shrugging off the oddity of the situation, Issei turned in a different direction even as he withdrew his phone - _a recent purchase_ \- from his pocket and dialed his work.

" _You have called 'The Hammered Dwarf', Andre speaking._ "

"Hey boss, it's me, Issei. I'm just calling to make sure that everything is going fine even in my absence, and that you won't be needing my help today."

" _You gave me the warning quite a few days ago, I managed to get Ginei to help cover for you today. Why did you choose to use a day off so suddenly anyways, when you were plenty happy squeezing as much coin from each workday as possible?_ "

Issei reached into his pocket, withdrawing a certain something and reading it over. His tone was extremely grave as he spoke.

"I'll be paying 'Hageshi Katagi' a little visit, to talk to him about his... Warning..."

 _ **-To be Continued!-**_

 **Niiiiiice! Our boy Issei had been going without for a good while, and Aika seemed about ready to jump into the ship, so I decided to kill to birds with one stone in this chapter! It's crazy how Aika is uber rich, though. And Issei's going to meet up with 'Hageshi' in the next chapter... This shows promise, I believe!**

 **However... I'd like you all to give me your opinions on this! The story in general, this chapter in specific, and the future!**

 **Any opinion that consists of anything other than simple flames is very much welcome!**

 **Anyways... Chapter over! Bye bye!**


	28. The Human Calamity

**Hello ladies and gentlemen, it is I, the author of this story, addressing you in a written format! (** _ **obviously**_ **).**

 **It's been a while since I last wrote for this story directly, I've been working on setting up the plot for the immediate future instead, so... Delays. Despite that, I am still here, thankfully whole and healthy in these hard times for the entire world, with the intent to bring as much entertainment as possible (and necessary) in a world that sorely needs it.**

 **On the note, I made a post on my Pat reon (public post, everyone can see it) about my future plans as far as writing is concerned, and you can go check them out at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- Francogamerxz ".**

 **I'd like to thank Tyric Gaia for his continued monetary support, and extend the invitation to anyone who is able and willing to do the same, to do so at my Pat reon (** _ **already linked at the previous paragraph**_ **). As always, do remember that donating is purely optional, no one is forced to do so for whatever reason.**

 **If you are unable to make your support known in a monetary fashion but still wish to help in the story's continued growth, you can also do so by favoriting, following and reviewing this story, and spreading the word to others who you believe may enjoy it.**

 **Now, onwards to the story!**

* * *

"Regular character Speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " ( _Whispering, hissing_ )

" **Powerful Speech** " ( _Backed by Killing intent, Presence, sheer raw power, etc_ )

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind reading/Telepathic conversation_ '

 **[Ddraig Speaking out loud]**

 **[** _ **Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei**_ **]**

' _ **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking**_ '

* * *

Issei's head moved slowly, allowing him to take in the decorations of the entrance lobby of _**Katagi Services Incorporated**_ 's headquarters.

'Pretty much what you'd expect the reception of a regular office building. Other than the almost inconspicuous Yakuza, of course.'

Issei's ammendment was made after he spotted a few black suited and shades-wearing men, spread out around the lobby, easily blending into the rest of the people there for anyone not used to discerning fighters from civillians, and placed in a way that allowed at least a couple of men to cover each of the room's entrances/exits at all times.

Shrugging off this fact, Issei leisurely made his way towards the reception counter, his work clothes allowing him to blend into the type of people already previously milling around. A quick tap of the bell had the receptionist - _her nametag reading 'Yui'_ \- favoring Issei with the heavily practiced professional smile that every properly commited retail, public relations and diplomatic worker had all but seared into their soul, her voice light and invinting as she spoke.

"Good evening sir, what can I help you with tonight?"

Issei favored the woman with a smile of his own, leaning slightly forward onto the counter so that he could lower the volume of his voice as he spoke.

"I'm here to meet Katagi-san."

"I'm sorry," Yui spoke apologetically, her tone reflecting the shift of the smile on her face, "But any meeting with Katagi-sama must be scheduled ahead of time. If you want to meet with Katagi-sama, you'll have to call his secretary and see if she can fit you into his schedule."

"I'm sure that if you called up and-"

"I'm sorry, sir," Yui spoke in a more forceful tone of voice, her smile particularly forced, "But you'll have to schedule ahead of time if you intend to meet with Katagi-sama."

Sighing lightly, Issei tried again.

"Look, I am one hundred percent sure Katagi-san wants to meet up with me. If you just called up and-"

"I'm sorry, sir-"

"Tell his secretary that Hyoudou Issei-"

Issei was interrupted when a heavy hand clamped onto his shoulder. Yui's face changed from put-upon to relieved as a gravelly voice boomed beside Issei.

"What seems to be the problem here?"

"Thank god you're here, Donzo-san... This young man insists that he _must_ meet up with Katagi-sama, despite the fact that he has no appointment with him scheduled."

Smiling in an attempt at curbing his rising frustration, Issei spoke up.

"As I said before, if you called up to Katagi-san's office and told him that Hyoudou Issei is-"

Donzo's grip on Issei's shoulder tightened, his tone dangerous as he spoke.

"Listen here, punk! We are not in the business of catering to every two-bit highschool delinquent with an inflated Ego thinking that he's Kami's gift to humanity, ergo even important businessmen would 'love the privilege to meet up with them'. Take this chance to leave peacefully before I _make_ you leave."

Issei closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath, his tone light as he spoke.

"Look, the two of you are only trying to do your jobs. I understand that, and I respect that. However..."

Issei's posture changed at that moment, his previously straight posture bending into a slight slouch, his head tilted slightly towards Donzo so that he could see the man out of the corner of his - _dangerously_ \- half-lidded eyes, his tone lightening into something much too casual to be natural as he spoke.

"If you don't take your hand off my shoulder right now, I'll _break_ it."

Anyone watching Donzo could swear that they saw his glowering glare even through his shades, but his facial scars became visibly taut as he clenched his jaw. Yui actually flinched away from him when vains started visibly throbbing on his neck and forehead.

" _Listen here you punk,_ " Donzo hissed between gritted teeth, " _You have 15 seconds to get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass. And if I ever see you return here for whatever reason, I will make sure you have a long stay at a hospital bed. NOW SCRAM!_ "

His last words were punctuated with a shove that forced Issei back half a step.

The brunet slouched even further, his still casual tone sending an unnerved shiver down Yui's spine.

"Now you've gone and done it. You upset me... _And it's gonna cost ya_."

Another vein joined the already throbbing one on Donzo's forehead, his open hand reaching for the collar of Issei's shirt...

" _Hmph._ "

Only for the brunet to snort contemptuously as his arm blurred for an instant. Yui could only watch incredulously as the previously imposing Donzo fell onto his knees, his left hand holding onto his right forearm in an attempt at supporting his now limp hand.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The loud scream of pain froze all activity on the lobby, causing everybody to turn towards it's source. Seeing one of their own floored and screaming, the rest of the buff, suit-clad yakuza started converging onto the scene, nasty glares being tossed at the unnervingly relaxed, slouching teenager.

Said teenager allowed his eyes to wander, taking in the scene of a higher amount of men converging onto the scene than he had previously spotted, though the sight of some of them walking into the building, and others climbing down the stairs or leaving the elevators explained the increased number.

Rather than react with fear or trepidation, or to simply get down onto his knees and beg as anyone else in his position would, Issei's reaction was a small, involuntary upturn of the lips, his tone cheery as he spoke.

"You guys came at the right time! I am currently slightly upset and could use a good punching bag or two!"

His eyes narrowed into slits, a dangerous gleam in them even as his voice mantained it's upbeat, cheery tone.

"Don't break too fast now!"

Having said that, he dashed straight into the crowd of surprised gangsters.

* * *

While Issei worked his way towards the meeting he wanted to have, another meeting was already on proceeding.

Sona and Rias sat across one another, each of them nursing a steaming teacup as they looked over the chessboard between the two of them, each of them thinking of the future moves they could take to win the match.

The two peerages could do little but watch the match while doing their best to ignore the abnormal amount of tension in the room.

Sona took a sip from her cup, enjoying the warmth within her chest before reaching for a bishop. She then started speaking as she moved it.

"I'm sure you already know why I am here."

The redhead watched as Sona captured a pawn using her bishop. Pursing her lips, she analyzed the board before deciding that it was safe for her to capture the bishop with her knight. She made her move while responding.

"Hyoudou Issei."

The other peerage members ignored the slightly sheepish, blushing gaze Momo gave Yuuto except for the young man himself, who responded only with his usual smile. Then, everybody else turned their focus back to the game - _except for Koneko, who focused on her sweets_ \- and watched the mixed verbal and mental engagement between the two.

"Indeed," Sona agreed with a nod, "It should be obvious by now that I am interested in the potential held by Hyoudou Issei. Between his stellar grades, his physique and his fighting abilities, he is likely one of the top prospects within our age range for reincarnation via Devil Piece."

Rias' frown stretched further as she saw Sona move a pawn into an empty space, prompting her to move a bishop of her own into a safer position as she spoke.

"I can understand your interest in him... But we have a standing agreement, Sona."

The Sitri heiress was the one to frown this time, looking at the board critically as she spoke.

"Our agreement is the only reason why I'm here right now, talking to you, rather than simply going down to his home and recruiting him face to face. And..." Sona proceeded to move her knight, "I'm not really sure you can understand my interest in Issei given your attitude towards as much as a reference or allusion to him. Check."

Rias furrowed her brows while gazing intently at Sona's pieces and their placement, though this focus did not impede her from speaking.

"I understand why you are interested in recruiting him, Sona, it's just... Let me try to make things clearer from my end.

"I am someone who has been chained down, beholden to an agreement that I had no say in, in an engagement towards one of the most contemptible people that I've ever had the displeasure of knowing.

"Unlike you, who were given the ability to fight for her own freedom relying purely on her skills, I am forced to do the exact opposite. And while I do believe in the strength of my dear peerage, I also understand the fact that my peerage is currently likely unable to contend with the power of the Bomb Queen and the Phenex Heir, two high class devils, without accounting for the rest of his peerage, which ranks mostly middle-class devils.

"In the middle of all of this, my recruitment efforts give me, as the best shot at freeing myself from this engagement, someone who reminds me of all the worst parts of Raiser.

"It... is not a very simple choice to make."

Having said this, Rias moved her king to safety from Sona's knight.

The Student Council President shook her head at that, "You are making things much more complicated than they need to be, Rias." She allowed her hand to hover above the board, "Rather than simply looking at Issei superficially and ticking off boxes due to his similarities to Raiser, why don't you try to get to know him better? Focus more on the differences between Issei and Raiser, rather than the similarities. It would likely allow you to understand that the two are not one and the same." Having said that, Sona surprised Rias by moving her other Bishop into a dangerous position, wherein it could easily be captured by Rias' rook.

Frustration and a whole host of mixed emotions flashed on Rias' face for just a moment, before she spoke, "As I said before, it's not so simple! I... When I look at him directly, I can't help but see Raiser! If I tried to spend any time around him, it would likely get worse! Plus, he would likely find it suspicious that I gained a sudden interest in him." She punctuated this by capturing the Bishop with her Rook.

Sona used the opening left behind by the Rook's movement to move a Knight into a more advantageous position, "Then don't look at him directly. If you can't judge him accurately, then rely on your friends. Akeno is a part of his friend group and very close to him, while I am also quite partial towards him. We would not befriend someone as contemptible as Raiser, so why not trust our judgement?"

Rias moved her queen, capturing one of Sona's pawns and putting her in a position which would allow her to put her opponent in check in her next turn, "That is part of the problem! The two of you are already close to him, meaning that one, he may likely wear a different face in front of you than his real character, in order to try to impress you, or two, your level of... _Esteem_... for him might blind you to flaws of his."

Sona's mouth twitched quite a bit, the corner seemingly unable to decide on whether it wishes to be up or down, before she spoke.

"If you feel that myself and Akeno are 'compromised', then find someone else who you can trust to be impartial in the judgement of Issei, and get their opinion of him. However, do remember..." Sona's lips twitched into a slight smirk as she grabbed the pawn she had been steadily advancing towards Rias' side of the board and moved it forward in a move that left Rias wide-eyed and open mouthed. "If you take too long to act, or second guess yourself too often, you may try to make more moves in a game you've already lost. Check-Mate."

Nodding lightly towards the Gremory heiress and watching as her face furrowed in concentration as she thought her way back through all of the moves they had made during their match, Sona proceeded to give courteous nods to all of Rias' peerage members, an act that was copied by her own peerage, before they all left the Occult Research Club's clubroom.

"Ara ara... Buchou seems to have utterly and pitifully lost! _Ufufufufufu~_ "

Rias sighed out loud at that, placing a placating hand on Akeno's arm as she spoke.

"I already said it before, Akeno. I would entrust my life to you in a heartbeat." She meaningfully allowed her gaze to moved towards Koneko and Yuuto before speaking up again, "To all of you. However... I can't bring myself to trust Hyoudou right now. I know that it's unfair towards yourself, towards Sona, and even towards him, but... That's how it is. The three of you know how it is to feel very strongly about a certain subject, and being unable to just... Let go."

Rias' words caused the slight amount of hurt hidden within Akeno's teasing gaze to all but vanish, all the while her three peerage members took an involuntary trip down memory lane, towards each of their individual baggage.

"That being said..."

Rias' words broke Akeno, Yuuto and Koneko out of their introspection, and got their focus back on her.

"I will try to not simply ignore yours and Sona's impression of Hyoudou-san. I'll just... get a more neutral view of him, to contrast them against." The redhead turned towards her Rook at that, "As the one with the best senses and stealth among us, and the one most likely to be blunt and openly critical of him if you ever find him lacking in some aspect, I'll delegate the task of looking over Hyoudou Issei in his day-to-day life to you, Koneko-chan."

Bridging her fingers together as she mentally worked out logistics, Rias thought aloud, " _That would mean that myself, Akeno and Yuuto will have to increase the amount of contracts and wishes granted to account for the temporary absence of Koneko's share, but it should be manageable..._ "

She opened one of her desk drawers, withdrawing a manilla folder from it. She dropped it onto the desk top, allowing some papers to spread out across it. One of these was a picture of a smirking Issei, clad only in his skin-tight shit with rolled up sleeves, a photograph that had her involuntarily drawing parallels between him and Raiser.

Giving the bustling Akeno a look, her eyes gained a resolute gleam, prompting her to raise the photopgraph up before allowing her **Power of Destruction** to turn it to little more than dust.

'For Akeno, Sona and myself... I'll give him a fair shot.'

Akeno, who had been discreetly watching Rias' actions from the corner of her eyes while tidying up the room after the Student Council's visit, couldn't help but smile at her best friend.

Koneko and Yuuto, for their parts, seemed to have gained a level of resolution as well.

Koneko had decided to keep the tightest watch over Issei she could, while Yuuto inwardly made a pledge to compensate for Koneko's task with his own wish granting.

Just like that, the Gremory Peerage became active.

* * *

"What in Kagutsuchi's sweltering nutsack!?"

Yui, who had been previously fearfully cowering behind her desk, allowed her head to peek out at the sound of a familiar voice, only for her eyes to fill with tears of relief as she dashed around her desk to hide behind her imposing boss.

She then pointed a trembling finger in a certain direction, prompting Susano'o to look there, before his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"What the hell happened here?"

His question, while directed at Yui, was made as a reference to the fact that a young man was sitting atop a makeshift throne of battered, bruised and unconscious Yakuza. The receptionist spoke up, her voice about as steady as her finger.

"He... He showed up all of a sudden, sir... Asked for meeting... Donzo spoke up, then..."

She petered off helplessly, her brain likely finding no way to explain the fact that the young man had beaten literally over a hundred Yakuza in one go.

The young man perked up, his head rising from it's previous resting position while he spoke in a friendly, upbeat tone.

"Hey there, Katagi!" He ignored the muffled gasps that came from both Yui and the beaten, yet still conscious, men underneath him at the casual form of address, simply coninuing his speech, "I was around the neighbourhood, so I decided to pay you a visit!"

"O...kay..." Susano'o said in mild bewilderment, "But what does that have to do with what happened here?"

"Oh, that!" Issei said while waving his hand as if literally waving off any sense of gravity or tension - _a move that caused the men under him to flinch_ \- that the words could have had, "I decided to agree to your request of a business visit, but I was held up at the reception desk. You see, I wasn't allowed up, and when I said that it was important business and to call up for you, I was ignored."

Issei raised a hand before pointing his thumb behind himself, at a figure that was lying down on the ground with a hand that was positioned in a... Most uncomfortable manner.

"That guy tried to stop me using threats and force. Even though I get that it was just his job, the fact that he ignored my attempts at not having to fight made me a bit annoyed, you see, a situation which was compounded upon by the flood of your guys intent on beating the snot out of me.

"So I beat the stuffing out of them first!"

Susano'o found himself half-amused, half-exasperated at the explanation from Issei, who was slowly and lazily dislodging himself from his human throne and stretching.

Shaking his head ruefully at Issei's actions, Susano'o spoke in a casual tone.

"Well, I have to thank you for having gone easy on them, at least."

The hidden god's words shocked everybody else in the room almost as much as Issei's nonchalant response.

"It'd be impolite to start off a joint business project by utterly hospitalizing a great part of my business partner's workers, so I let them off with a fracture or two."

The two were now walking side to side, heading towards the stairs under the incredulous and stupified gazes of everyone else in the reception lobby.

"By the way, Yui-san," 'Hageshi' said, "Hyoudou Issei has full access to my office at all times. He shows up, no matter whether I'm present or not, he goes up. Understood?"

The fact that Susano'o spoke in a light, soothing tone was likely the only reason why Yui's frazzled mind was capable of enough cognizance to respond with a slight, mechanical nod.

As the two started their leisure walk up the stairs, their voices could be faintly heard.

"Err, Hyoudou-san, you've got some, uh... Blood, on your collar."

"Oh don't worry, it's not _my_ blood..."

Only after the two voices trailed off into inaudibility, did sound return to the previously empty lobby.

"What was that?"

"Hold back?"

"Go easy?"

"Business Associate?"

"What," a young, shocked voice cut through all the others, it's incredulity easily noticeable "Was that? What kind of man walks into another man's workplace, fights off hundreds of his employeeds at once, only to go on and engage in friendly banter with the boss?"

"That ain't no man," A scarred man in his mid 30's, who had the fortune of suffering only a broken pinky, spoke in a solemn tone of voice, "That's a man-shaped calamity."

Soon enough, the entire lobby was filled with whispers about a 'man-shaped calamity', which rapidly became 'human calamity'.

Right there and then, one of the biggest legends of the Japanese underworld was born.

* * *

"Man, your guys are really spirited. It's not any random person that sees 20 of their coworkers beat down with ease and still jump the person who did it on their own. They were pretty durable for non-supernatural folks as well, capable of taking a good beating."

"My men's training is harsh enough to be considered a regimen for elite special forces in some of the world's nations! In any fight that doesn't involve the supernatural world, I'd easily put my money on them!"

"Cool."

The two walked in silence for a bit, before Susano'o spoke up.

"You know, it's funny that you'd choose this exact date, and this exact time to come pay me a visit."

"Oh?" Issei asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why is that?"

"That's because..." nodding lightly towards his secretary, Susano'o opened the door to his office, revealing two other people sat around said office. Both of them had a deeply repressed Divine aura within them, with the girl smelling of summer, and feeling like sunlight and all things pure. The other one felt like a fainter light, subterfuge and the night. "Both of my siblings were visiting today."

Issei's previous good mood completely vanished, his smile dropping into a deep scowl as he walked into the office, his back slouched in contravenance to his previously straight gait.

The last sight that Hageshi Katagi's secretary had before her boss closed the door to his office was that of a young man whose mere back she couldn't stare at without feeling as if she were in the presence of a great predator.

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_


	29. A Group Discussion

**I'm alive, I'm writing, let's get to it!**

 **After a quick Thank You to Tyric Gaia, for his continued support of me and my story. Thank you Tyric, you rock!**

 **If you like and wish to support my work, you can do so by leaving a review, following and favoriting the story, and signal-boosting it as well to others you think may enjoy it. You can also, if you feel willing and capable of doing so, check out my Pat reon at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz ".**

 **Anyways, thanks for your attention, and on to the story!**

* * *

"Regular character Speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " ( _Whispering, hissing_ )

" **Powerful Speech** " ( _Backed by Killing intent, Presence, sheer raw power, etc_ )

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind reading/Telepathic conversation_ '

 **[Ddraig Speaking out loud]**

 **[** ** _Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei_** **]**

' ** _Ddraig/Powerful being thinking_** '

* * *

" _ **Give me a reason not to kill you right now.**_ "

Issei's hiss, backed by a healthy amount of pressure, came out as soon as Susanoo had closed the door to his office, aimed fully towards the sitting Tsukuyomi.

Before Susanoo could have said anything to de-escalate the situation, Tsukuyomi spoke up imperiously.

"What makes you think you are capable of doing so in the first place?"

 _ **BOOM!**_

 _ **Killing Intent**_ poured from Issei so powerfully and plentifully that it caused the floor underneath his feet to crack, and the space around him to warp heavily like the air on a scorching summer day. Before he could leap at Tsukuyomi, Susanoo spoke up.

"We need him alive to ensure the safety of everyone in this country, including your friends and family."

The three gods watched Issei, two of them tensely and one of them indifferently, each of them feeling for every single fluctuation of his energy in order to know whether or not they needed to react to violence.

The brunet made a decision, lowering his arm and his _**Pressure**_ at the same time, before seating himself on a yellow couch, his expression blank as he deliberately looked away from Tsukuyomi, gave Amaterasu a quick, appraising look, before turning his focus towards Susanoo, who had sat down behind his large desk.

The silence in the room was only matched by the tension, which was so thick that a knife wouldn't even make a nick in it. Seeing that the three men in the room weren't about to break this silence, Amaterasu cleared her throat, turning towards Issei before speaking up.

"Hello, Hyoudou-san. My name is Amaterasu, and I am Susanoo and Tsukuyomi's sister. I know that this situation is far from optimal, but I hope that we can work well together!"

She stared at Issei expectantly, receiving only a raised eyebrow in response, something which caused her to deflate in place, and which ripped a derisive snort from Tsukuyomi.

"Don't bother, sister. Humans are uncourteous beings, that won't accept an olive branch from literal gods themselves-"

"You don't get to say anything, Tsu-chan!"

Amaterasu turned towards Tsukuyomi, her eyes bearing a look of slight disappointment and her voice bearing a tone of mild admonishment. Her left fist was placed atop the equivalent hip, while her right finger was wagged in front of Tsukuyomi as she spoke.

"After sending an assassin after Issei-san, while fully knowing that we wanted to ask him for help in dealing with a difficult situation, don't you think it's very shameless to speak about any lack of cordiality?

"You talk about olive branches, when you yourself haven't even apologized for what you've done!"

Tsukuyomi's face seemed to be carved out of marble from how impassive it was in the face of Amaterasu's words. His tone showed no level of shame as he spoke.

"I am sure that some sort of suitable recompense can be arranged for during negotiations, perhaps a sum of money, a large plot of land, or even some mystical artifacts-"

"I refuse." The three turned back towards the equally impassive Issei, whose soft tone contrasted with his unyieldingly hard words. "If i were weaker than that spider assassin you sent after me, I would have died. My parents would have lost their child for no reason at all, and they wouldn't even know when or how it happened, or who did it.

"Every single goal, plan or wish which I haven't fulfilled yet would have died alongside me as well. And that is without mentioning the feelings of my friends, my girlfriends, and every other person who is close to me, that I had not yet mentioned.

"So no, I won't say that I value my life so little as to be satisfied with some money, land, or shiny trinkets. I can get those at any time, without endangering my life.

"What I do want is a full admission of guilt from you, and an apology. Not a fake one, not an indirect one. I want you to clearly apologize to me, while mentioning the reason as to why you are doing so.

"That is the only way I'll ever let this matter drop, and even _consider_ working with your faction."

Issei's words caused Tsukuyomi's face to twist as if he had smelled something foul. Mustering up as much grandeur and indignation as he could, Tsukuyomi opened his mouth with the intent to reject Issei's proposal altogether, when Amaterasu answered in his place.

"Of course my brother is going to apologize!"

Tsukuyomi gave Amaterasu a betrayed look, only to be hit with a look of annoyance which, when paired with a pair of puffed-up cheeks, could only be called adorable. While affecting this look, she spoke.

"Tsu-chan, stop being a stupid meanie and apologize!"

The Shinto god of the moon flinched at the sight, feeling as if Amaterasu's words had just driven an arrow into his side.

"B-but-"

His stuttered words were answered to by a wet-eyed look, paired with a trembling lower lip from Amaterasu, something which completely crumbled his defenses, prompting him to turn towards Issei and speaking between gritted teeth, each word coming with the same level of difficulty and suffering from him as a tooth extraction using only a pair of plyers.

"I... _Apologize_... For my transgressions against you."

Seeing Issei's unconvinced face, Tsukuyomi screwed up his face before proceeding.

"I am _sorry_ for having sent an assassin after you. I was... _Out of line._ "

Issei's indiferent look did not change as he responded, his tone as stereotypically magnanimous as possible without crossing over into the realm of parody.

"Apology accepted. After all, how could I, such a great person, hold a grudge against you, such a small individual? Of course, I don't have to mention the fact that I expect nothing of the sort to occur again?"

Tsukuyomi was unable to completely suppress the look of anger at the humiliation he suffered, even as he swallowed his anger and spoke the words that hurt him more than gargling glass shards ever could.

"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again, _Hyoudou-san_."

"Very well."

Having said that, Issei moved his focus completely away from Tsukuyomi, being done with him, before turning an emotionless gaze towards Amaterasu.

He watched impassively as the sun goddess fidgeted nervously under his gaze, before favoring her with a warm gaze, and a small, yet genuine smile, something which caused her to tentatively smile at him as well.

Issei then proceeded to stun the three Shinto deities in the room by reaching towards Amaterasu and giving her head a soft pat and rub.

"You are adorable. I really like adorable people and animals."

Issei's words caused Amaterasu's porcelain-white face to bloom into a massive blush, Susanoo to internally praise him for his balls, even as he suppressed his brotherly instinct to try to flatten him, and Tsukuyomi to curl his hands into fists so hard that his fingernails dug into his palms, causing droplets of blood to flow down through his fingers.

"Ah... _T-thank you..._ "

Noticing that she was unable to deal with any more of his attention, Issei gave Amaterasu one last smile before removing his hand from her head and turning towards Susanoo, his friendly mien replaced by cold profissionalism.

Noticing the change in his demeanor, Susanoo cleared his throat before speaking up.

"As I've told you before, Hyoudou-san, and you may have looked more into, bad things have been happening to regular, non-supernatural people in a very suspicious manner. People mysteriously vanishing, diseases that hospitals have been unable to identify, much less treat, and all sorts of other things.

"We've been mobilizing our people and resources to see if the missing people are found, the ill are healed and that more events like these do not occur, all the while keeping the mundane world unaware of these things, yet that is not enough.

"We wish to be more proactive in our efforts to figure out the cause of these events and to take care of it, but that requires us to be able to rely on someone skilled enough to deal with any issues that crop up, and yet cannot be directly connected to our faction and alert this mysterious enemy that we are aware of their existence, ensuring that the enemy does not go to ground or escalate."

He reached into one of his desk drawers, withdrawing a sleek, square-shaped smartphone, as big as Issei's hand and possessing rounded edges, before placing it atop his desk and sliding it in Issei's general direction.

"In case you choose to ally with us, this would be your primary work tool. It would be through this smartphone that any job details would be sent your way, and through which you would would be acecepting or refusing said jobs - _under the presumption of good faith, of course_ \- and the reward associated to it.

"So, Hyoudou Issei, what do you say? Will you work with our Shinto faction?"

The brunet stood up, walking up to Susanoo's desk and reaching out for the phone. His hand stopped an inch from the device, before he spoke.

"I have conditions of my own."

Susanoo nodded, prompting Issei to speak.

"First, I get to work with a team. Second, I get to pick said team. Third, I get to negotiate the mission pay in case I feel as if the one offered is not adequate for the level of difficulty and danger of the mission itself."

Susanoo bridged his fingers over his face, taking a moment of consideration before asking.

"Are your prospective teammates good enough?"

"They will be."

Seeing the certainty in Issei's gaze, Susanoo nodded.

"Fair enough. We accept your terms."

As soon as the storm god spoke, Issei collected the phone and slipped it into his pocket, before making relaxed steps towards the exit.

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob, something which got the attention of the three gods back onto him.

" _ **I won't hesitate to kill whoever fucks with me again. Remember that.**_ "

Issei left the office after saying those words, leaving behind a trio of shocked gods.

Susanoo, his face fully serious, spoke first.

"This pressure he just released... It was nothing like when he first came in here."

Tsukuyomi, who had received the brunt of the _**Pressure**_ just now, wiped a few beads of sweat off of his forehead before speaking up.

"I know we already suspected him of possessing a **Longinus** , but this feeling... Either he is such a genius that he gained a thorough understanding of a low tier **Longinus** in such a short time period, or he possesses one of such high power that even his current self is empowered to such degree so shortly after unlocking it.

"I don't know which possibility is the more terrifying of the two."

Amaterasu spoke up after that, her tone hesitant.

"Or... It could be that he both possesses a high-tier **Longinus** , and the ability to quickly understand how to use it."

Sighing tiredly as he leaned back into his chair, Susanoo shot Tsukuyomi a mild look as he spoke.

"This is the person that you chose to antagonize, brother. I hope this teaches you something."

Susanoo's words caused Tsukuyomi to make a complicated face, before standing up.

"I will be taking my leave as well."

Having said that, he walked towards an open window before vanishing in a beam of silver light, leaving behind Susanoo and Amaterasu in the room.

"What do you think about Issei, sister?"

Amaterasu jumped at Susanoo's sudden question, turning towards him before stopping for a moment to think things through.

"He... Is complicated." She placed a hand on her own head, before speaking. "How can someone with _**Murderous Intent**_ so powerful have such a kind touch?"

The two elapsed into silence, both of them thinking of the same subject.

And like that, the negotiations ended.

* * *

"Pick it up, ladies! Get those knees up!"

Motohama and Matsuda could only stare incredulously at Issei who, despite running backwards, was still keeping a consistent lead, all the while easily avoiding any obstacles on his path, and without ever tripping or losing his footing.

"Aaaaand... You can stop now."

As soon as those words were said, Motohama fell over like a puppet with it's strings cut, while Matsuda bent over, hands on his knees as he fought to regain his breath. Only after thirty more seconds did Lilith come into view of the three young men, her form drenched in sweat and barely dragging herself towards them.

She instantly flopped down onto one of the benches of the park they were at before making grabbing motions towards Issei with a piteous look on her face.

The brunet placed the water bottle into her grip before speaking up.

"I feel like we've been making progress, people. We've already shaved off over a quarter of the original time spent on these runs, and your conditioning has gotten to the point where you can recover fast, especially Matsuda.

"With that being said, I want you guys to be aware that training will get even _more_ intense from tomorrow onwards."

"W-w-what?" Motohama sputtered out, "What do you mean _more intense_? You're already running us ragged! Do you want us to run a marathon or something?"

Matsuda seemed to hesitate for a single moment, before speaking up.

"Motohama's right. Don't take me wrong, as someone who likes running, I have nothing personal against it, but... It's not only me that you're training. You are trying to get myself, Aika and Lilith into a way above average physical shape for some reason. I mean, look at me, I'm easily running times way above those that earned me awards and trophies in serious competitions.

"What gives, man? Why are you pushing us so hard?"

Issei stopped for a moment, his face making the storm of thoughts within his head visible to the three people present, before speaking up again.

"I... I can't tell you yet. I don't think you can deal with it yet. But... I ask you guys to trust me when I say that what I am currently doing, is for your own good. There will come a time when the three of you and Aika will thank me for putting you through the hell I am. Of that I am sure."

While Lilith simply favored Issei with an understanding look, already knowing the sort of things that might at any moment pop up in the town of Kuoh within the particular time frame, the bald and glasses-wearing members of the Perverted Trio traded looks, before Motohama spoke for them.

"Alright, Issei. We'll put our trust in you and not ask questions for now, but we _will_ definitely expect some sort of answer or explanation later on."

"Hey." Issei, Lilith and Motohama turned towards Matsuda, who had spoken up in an inquiring tone, "Where is Aika anyway, and why didn't she practice with us today?"

This question caused Lilith's face to spread into a massive grin, before speaking up.

"She is probably still in bed, thoroughly icing her hot box after the damage Issei dealt yesterday evening."

Motohama and Matsuda turned towards Issei with stunned and impressed gazes. After seeing them walk off together the previous day, they already expected something to happen between the two of them, an advancement of their relationship, so that part wasn't really surprising.

What was surprising was how blunt and straightforward Lilith was about the fact that her boyfriend had, the previous day, had sex with their friend, and the fact that, based on her tone of voice, she seemed about ready to- "High five!" -actually did high five him.

"So, how did it go? What sort of stuff did you do?"

Each word Lilith said only caused Motohama and Matsuda's eyes to widen further, and their mouths to gape more and more.

"WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"

"WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"

The only reasonable response from the two in this situation was to prostrate themselves in front of Issei, repeatedly bowing so low that their foreheads almost hit the ground.

"YOU TRULY ARE A MAN AMONGST MEN!"

"US REGULAR ONES SHALL ENDEAVOUR TO LEARN FROM YOU, SENIOR!"

A soft, yet firm grip fell upon a shoulder of each of the bowing young men, prompting them to look up towards the origin of said grip, their friend, Issei.

"Do not worry, my brothers. With the training that I am giving you, you will also step up from the realm of mortal men, and learn the ways of those blessed by the heavens. That is a promise from your senior in the path of Sexual Cultivation."

Issei's words truly inspired these wide-eyed young men, motivating them to reach for the stars and fight for their dreams. With heartfelt tears streaming down their faces, the two of them slammed their foreheads into the ground before shouting.

"PLEASE TAKE CARE OF US!"

"PLEASE TAKE CARE OF US!"

Lilith could only watch with a bemused smile on her face, even as the other people in the park stealthily left, unwilling to deal with the band of shameless weirdos.

 _BEEP BEEP_

Lilith looked down at her watch before her eyes widened tremendously.

"Ohcrapimmabelate!"

Her words caused the young men to switch their focus back to her, only for Issei to be surprised by a flying tackle, before Lilith wrapped her legs aroud his waist and her arms around his neck, only to go on to do something with their mouths that could only be described as a mix between a french kiss and an attempt at trading respiratory systems.

After a full minute of this, the purplette jumped off of Issei's body before running away, her body already seemingly recovered from their previous run.

"Bye bye! See you later, lover boy!"

Issei waved vigorously towards his first girlfriend until she was completely out of sight before looking down at his own watch and frowning.

"We should be moving as well if we intend to make it to school on time. So... See you guys later!"

Then, he also ran off.

Motohama and Matsuda, after trading nods, went their own ways as well.

* * *

" _Ara ara_ ~... Is it just me, or is Kiryuu-san oddly close to Issei today?"

Motohama, Matsuda and everybody else around could only sweatdrop at Akeno's glib comment, made in response to the fact that as soon as their group had convened underneath their usual tree for lunch, Aika carelessly plopped herself atop Issei's lap, with the young man saying nothing in response, and instead proceeding to eat his lunch as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh, you didn't hear? Me and Issei fucked yesterday, and I finally joined his harem."

" _ **PFFFFFFFFFT**_ "

" _ **Gah Gahk**_ "

Many of the eavesdroppers around them either choked or spat the contents of their mouths off at the Aika's casual ease in saying such obscene things in such a shockingly blunt manner.

"W-what are you doing!?" A pink-haired girl shouted indignantly, "As a girl aren't you ashamed of saying and doing these sorts of perverted things!?"

The look Aika leveled upon the girl was that of a person questioning another's sanity, before she spoke up.

"Why would I be ashamed of liking sex-related things?" She punctuated with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I am much too informed to be a total prude, like the rest of you pretend to be."

A massive and wicked smirk split her lips after that. While holding the scandalized pinkette's gaze, Aika reached underneath herself and directly gripped his tool, something which caused even Akeno to gasp at her audaciousness, before clearly and loudly speaking up, ensuring that she gave each and every word the proper enunciation.

"Plus, any woman capable of taking this absolute unit and still walk on the following day should be freaking proud of herself!"

Aika's words and actions caused the girl to point a trembling finger at them. "P-p-p-p-p-perverts! All of you, just perverts!" And, having said that, she rapidly fled.

After watching her walk away, Aika spoke up again, all while allowing her gaze to sweep the area around them.

"Does anyone else have any comments to make, or questions to ask? I would have no issue answering them as descriptively as I possibly can."

Everyone else around them could only avert their gaze, all of them going back to pretending that they weren't blatantly eavesdropping on what could be considered the most interesting and exclusive group in the academy other than the Occult Research Club and the Student Council.

Issei chuckled at Aika's actions, seemingly uncaring or unaffected by the fact that the girl had his second in her grip as he spoke in a tone that could only be described as a delighted purr.

"More and more interesting and amusing. I knew I liked you for a reason~"

After having said that, he started planting soft kisses and nips on her neck, his hands going down to her hips and slowly grinding her against him.

Aika started letting out soft, panting moans at Issei's ministrations, something that caused everybody around them to erupt into scandalized blushes. Completely ignoring them, the girl leaned back against her lover's body, before speaking.

"As much as I'd love to keep going and get a repeat of yesterday's dose, I've unfortunately not yet finished healing." Tapping a finger on her chin, she spoke again. "Oh, also, we're at school."

Everybody witnessing the situation first hand had only a common thought at those words.

'WHY ARE YOU TREATING THAT LAST PART AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT?'

"Oh. It's too bad you haven't healed yet, otherwise I would've shown you my other moves."

"Moves? What do you mean?"

"What I showed you last time was just a basic demonstration of my accumulated wealth of Marital Arts. When you get better, I think you'll be ready to face my more advanced techniques."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's the Milwaukee Spinning Drill, where I **** your ***** with my ****, then I take a **** and I ***** *****, followed by **** with *****, and ****. After that, I break out the baby oil."

If the present people thought they couldn't get any more scandalized when they heard Aika's words, they were proven thoroughly wrong just now after the deluge of words that had just left Issei's mouth, words potent enough to make sailors blush.

While the general - _prudish_ \- populace could only gasp and gape in abject shock, Aika's gaze was so intensely focused on him that Issei was surprised his clothes hadn't spontaneously combusted.

Motohama and Matsuda seemed to be a step away from saluting their best friend, while Akeno stood there frozen as her mind struggled to parse the implications of Issei's words.

 _ **BRRRRRRRING!**_

"Welp, bell rung, excitement over. Time to go back to class."

Saying this, Issei lifted his bespectacled girlfriend over his shoulder before making his way back to the school building, leaving behind him a wall of murmured rumors.

* * *

"So, where are we going?"

Motohama, Aika and Issei turned towards Matsuda, each of them bearing incredulous looks which prompted the bald teen to speak up defensively.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Really?" Aika said, "Did you hear absolutely nothing of our conversation?"

"...No?"

The baldy crossed his arms over his chest at the deepening of incredulous gazes, his head slightly turning to face away from them as he mumbled.

" _I saw a neat Puri Puri Nyaro-chan onesie._ "

While Aika snorted in amusement and Motohama gave Matsuda a betrayed look, likely due to his failure to inform him of said piece of Nyaro-chan merch, Issei sighed before speaking up.

"The school that Lilith will be studying at, the new all-girls academy of Kuoh, started lessons today, and I thought that it'd be neat for the lot of us to rescue her from the aftereffects of the teenager prison known as high school, and show her a good time out in the city. An expression of understanding of a shared suffering."

Matsuda blinked before nodding lightly.

"Perfectly understandable. So, where are we going after we rescue her?"

"I was thinking we could head down to the WcDowalls, down at the mall."

Aika snorted at Issei's words, before chiming in.

"Everybody knows that WcDowalls is overhyped garbage. All the coolest kids, which we obviously are part of, eat at Burger Krang."

"Eh!?" Motohama piped up, "Burger Krang is really trash! Let's eat at Welly's! They always have great food!"

"What about Kenpachi Food Chicken?"

The three arguing teens turned and silently stared at Matsuda before nodding in agreement.

"Alright."

"Kenpachi's sounds alright."

"I really love their Chucked Nuggets."

Their conversation went on until they found themselves walking through a throng of similarly dressed girls, some of them splitting up into groups while others went on individually, all of them easily parting around their own group, though more than a few of them gave the three young man various different types of looks.

The other three Kuoh students jerked in surprise at the sight of Issei's head suddenly snapping towards a certain direction, before he walked in said direction.

The group kept walking together, somehow making it past the increasingly dense throng of young women by using Issei as if he were the bow on a ship, unyielding even in the face of building pressure of dozens of bodies sharing a common space.

They eventually reached a curious scene. A group of young women had made a circle around two others, their faces bearing looks of admiration and envy.

In the center of the group Lilith could be seen talking to a young woman of 5'6" of height, straight greenish-blonde hair reaching her mid-back, pink eyes and cold and regal demeanour.

"Lilith!"

The purplette perked up at the familiar call, turning towards the source of the voice only to happily smile at the sight of her boyfriend and their group of mutual friends. She turned back towards the girl and said a few short words, before nodding at her and walking away from her under the gaze of the various girls around her.

She unhesitatingly walked past the opening in the circle of observers that had opened up to her, striding towards her boyfriend, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him down into a short, but intense, kiss.

After releasing him - _under the wide-eyed gaze of the other girls of her academy_ \- she turned towards the other three.

"Hey guys! What are all of you doing here?"

Issei, after wrapping an arm around Lilith's waist and giving her a quick squeeze and release, responded.

"We decided to welcome you into teenager hell with a last hurrah in the form of a tasty meal of Kenpachi Food Chicken! What do you say?"

"Sure! Let's go before- say, what's wrong with Motohama?"

Her words prompted the other three to turn towards the glasses-clad young man.

" _76 and 43 and 50 and..._ "

"Oh, that?" Matsuda spoke up with a careless wave of the hand. "He's just in his catalogue mode, where he starts measuring and memorizing the three sizes of every attractive girl he meets for the first time, that is not in a position where it is impossible to be attracted to."

Lilith looked towards Issei, receiving a confirming nod, while Aika seemed to be entertaining herself by poking Motohama's cheek and being ignored by him in his fugue.

Issei took this freely-given opportunity to send out a thread of his Empathic abilities towards Motohama and allowed it to wind around and sink into him, trying to analyze whether he was using _**Tantric Energy**_ or not, and in which manner he was doing it.

His eyebrow rose lightly at a twitch of the lust-related power within Motohama, but as he allowed himself to _feel_ him a bit more, Issei was surprised by the fact that this small measure of energy wasn't congregating on the eyes, like Aika's, but rather within the brain itself.

Curious beyond measure, Issei pushed a little further with his ability, ignoring the information related to Motohama's excursions in the world of self-gratification, only for his eyes to widen fully at what he ultimately got.

'The diameter of the left breast seems to be X, which is slightly larger than the right breast, but the right one has a slightly larger volume. The difference isn't too much, but is enough to be noticeable under focused analysis. This pair is about 36C, and possesses minimal to no sagging.'

Motohama nodded to himself at that before his thoughts drifted away from his analysis, the spark of _**Tantric Energy**_ similarly disappearing as he engaged Matsuda in conversation, only to have Aika jabbing his side and teasing him over his spacing out. Shaking off the thoughts that came in response to this new knowledge, Issei pulled Lilith by the hand until they had reached Aika and, with a girl on each side of him, he stretched out his arms and wrapped them around both waists, pulling their smaller, softer bodies against his own, to the scorn of some of those walking in the streets, and to impressed looks and nods from others.

In this friendly environment, hugging both of his girlfriends while trading easy banter with his best friends, Issei decided that, more than he already had been doing, he would do his absolute best to keep his country, his town and his precious people safe and protected, even if it meant teaching them to protect themselves in certain cases.

* * *

Motohama and Matsuda had been the first ones to leave their little meeting, citing the need to study some more for an upcoming test of theirs after slightly allowing their results in a pop quiz to dip below their newly-found exceptional scholar success.

Aika was the next one to leave, yet not without planting a deep, wet, and very much pornographic kiss on Issei's lips, before citing the need to get back to her ice and ointment treatment in order to speed up her ability to receive a new dose of Issei.

This left Lilith and Issei within the restaurant, enjoying their impromptu date. After a couple of hours of enjoyment, Lilith sighed out loud before speaking up.

"It's about time I left, Ise. Have to head back to the school."

"Hmm?"

"Basic rules of the academy. Usually, all-girls schools like this one, that actually host the entirety of their student body in dormitories wouldn't really allow girls to go out like this, but mother decided that she didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of overly-hormonal, supernaturally-powered teens suffering from a constant case of cabin fever.

"We get to go out of campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays after class as long as we make it back by 5:30PM at the latest, and we get Saturdays completely free between 9AM and 6PM, barring any sort of medical or family issue. Sundays are between 12PM and 5PM, since the next day is a school day.

"Break these rules by leaving too early without specific permission from the administration, or breaking the curfew too often, or in a much too severe manner, and you can lose your movement privileges, getting confined to school even on the weekends.

"Much less restrictive than other schools of this type, but that means that our weekday time is very short."

Issei nodded his understanding at that.

"Let's go then, I'll escort you to your school."

The purplette flashed her boyfriend a bright smile, taking his extended arm and leaving the eatery, only to go out into a chilly breeze that caused her to lightly tremble. Issei didn't say anything as he took off his blazer and draped it over her shoulders, prompting her to thankfully burrow deeper into his side and inhale deeply, smiling lightly at the innately _Issei_ smell, something which evoked a series of positive feelings, many of them not very innocent in nature, before walking in step with him back towards her school grounds.

They walked in a comfortable silence for a while, at least until Issei , noticing that they were in a particularly empty area, spoke.

"Motohama can use _**It**_ as well."

He had let out a tiny spark of his own _**Tantric Energy**_ while speaking, causing Lilith to instantly understand what he was speaking about. She looked up at him with a serious demeanor, prompting him to continue using her eyes alone, something which Issei easily noticed.

"When we were leaving your school zone, he started figuring out girl's three sizes in his mind, except, rather than having some sort of analytical ability like Aika developed on her own, he was actually enhancing his _brain_ , and using that to make high speed calculations.

"I only managed to catch onto a little bit of what he thought, though. The rest was a jumbled mess of numbers, formulas, letters and concepts flowing at a stupidly high speed."

"So... Aika enhanced her eyes and developed an innate sensory ability, Matsuda enhanced his body beyond his usual limits to increase his running speed, and Motohama did so to his brain... All of this on instinct alone?

"They possess a terrifying talent in using _**It**_."

"Yeah," Issei said ruefully, "I'm kinda envious I don't have that same talent."

Lilith halted her steps, quirking an eyebrow at Issei that made him feel sheepish, even if he did not know why.

"Figuring out high-level full-body reinforcement in a couple of weeks. Pailingual. Empathic and Sensory abilities.

"Do you really believe that you are any less talented than they are at using _**It**_?"

Issei's response was to sheepishly rub the back of his head with his free hand, a rueful chuckle escaping him.

"I guess you're right."

The two elapsed back into silence after that, simply enjoying each other's company until they reached Lilith's academy.

The purplette released Issei's arm before reluctantly unwrapping Issei's blazer from around her shoulders and handing it back to him.

Smiling softly at Lilith, Issei spoke.

"I guess that's it for now, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. I had a really fun time today."

"Well, I could swing by with the group on Thursday so we could go hang out elsewhere, and then you could finally get to know my new place on the weekend?"

"I'd like that."

Having said that, Lilith stood onto the tips of her toes before planting a soft, soulful kiss on Issei's lips, before waving at him as she went back into the academy.

Issei kept watching Lilith until she was no longer visible, before making his way back home. He had just sat down on his couch, a can of passion-fruit soda in hand and the remote in another, when the white phone from the previous night, that he had kept on his table, lit up.

Picking it up, Issei read the message that had popped up with a thoughtful frown. It seemed that he had just gotten his first task...

 _ **-Chapter, End-**_


	30. A Kung Full of trouble

****I've not yet shuffled off the ol' mortal coil, and fortunately it seems that the time is still quite a few decades away, so I'm back again with more for the fans!****

 ** **Before that, I'd like to say**** ** **Thank You to Tyric Gaia a**** ** **nd Shen**** ** **for**** ** **their**** ** **support of me and my story. You guys are amazing!****

 ** **If you like and wish to support my work, you can do so by leaving a review, following and favoriting the story, and signal-boosting it as well to others you think may enjoy it. You can also, if you feel willing and capable of doing so, check out my Pat reon at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz ".****

 ** **Anyways, thanks for your attention, and on to the story!****

* * *

"Regular character Speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " (Whispering, hissing)

" ** **Powerful Character Speech**** " (Backed by Killing intent, Presence, sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind reading/Telepathic conversation_ '

 ** **[Ddraig Speaking out loud]****

 ** **[** _Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei_ **]****

' **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking** '

* * *

Watanabe Choujurou was a good man.

He never did drugs, he didn't smoke, he drank in very rare occasions, and only ever socially, and he didn't borrow money from others.

He paid attention to his wife, showed his children both affection and sternness to ensure they followed the correct path, was kind and understanding towards his neighbours, and took equal responsibility over his family's pet dog as all of he other members of his family.

By most measurable metrics, anyone that knew Choujurou would see him as a pillar of his community, a perfect husband and family man to which all others in the neighbourhood were expected to live up to...

Those people would feel utterly betrayed were they to witness the present scene.

"I've already told you... __I. Don't. Care__. I don't care if you get stopped by the police, lose your license or go to jail, you owe me, and you will repay your debt one way or another."

Choujurou stared scornfully at the man seated on a wooden chair across him. The man was visibly shaking in his seat, with two thick hands nervously wringing the hat that previously covered his bald head. His tough, thick clothes were noticeably dusty and wrinkled, and a few bruises could be seen on the man's face.

"Please, man, my kid... I'm the only one there for her, and if I lose this job she won't even be able to go to school! I can't do this! Anything else, please!"

One of the two massive goons that flanked Choujurou cracked his fists, causing the bald man to flinch in place, the bruises on his body and face still throbbing.

"I don't think you understand your situation, Jushiro... You borrowed some money from me and promised to pay. Instead of paying on time, you asked for an extension on the payment, and then borrowed even __more__ money."

"Y-you gotta understand my situation! My wife ran out on me with our life savings after we had taken a loan to buy a house! With my job as a trucker, I have a hard enough time keeping food on the table and sending my kid to school! This job... I __can't__ lose it! Please, find some other way for me to pay! I'll do it if I can!"

The two goons took a step forward, only for a raised hand from Choujuro to halt them in place. Seeing this caused a gleam of hope to appear in Jushiro's eye, only for said hope to turn into terror at Choujuro's next words.

"That kid of yours, she's a looker and a half. How old is she right now, 20? 21?"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH MY DAUGHTER YOU- ** _ _ **Oof**__**!"

Jushiro's aggressive words and ascent from his seat were halted by a punch to the gut by one of the two goons, knocking him to the ground. Despite his breathlessness and the pain, he still fixed Choujurou with a stare full of hatred, an unspoken threat hanging in the air.

Choujurou adjusted his glasses, causing the light from above to completely hide his eyes from sight, before speaking in a cold tone.

"I have a daughter of my own, Jushiro, as well as a son, a wife, and a dog. I need to feed them as well, which means that business needs to keep going. I __will__ get the money I'm owed regardless. The only thing that can change in this situation is how. You either transport the merchandise, or your daughter __becomes__ the merchandise. Got it?"

" ** _ _ **NOW NOW, NO NEED TO GET NASTY...**__** "

Jushiro and Choujuro jumped in place, startled by the powerful voice that boomed from all around them, bouncing off of the walls of the abandoned warehouse they were in.

 _ _Tap. Tap. Tap.__

Light footsteps came from within the shadows, slowly revealing the form of a figure clad in a pair of sweatpants and a hooded jacket, the shadows of which hid the face of its wearer.

Chojurou regained his composure, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt before speaking up.

"And who might you be?"

The figure took a moment to size up the two goons, both of which put on their most threatening faces, one of them sliding on a pair of brass knuckles while the other retrieved and unsheathed a Tanto from his person. Having done so, he looked back at the glasses-clad man and spoke.

" ** _ _ **Watanabe Choujurou, the deliverer of Hadano city, I presume?**__** "

"Some know me by that title. Now answer my question, who's asking?"

" ** _ _ **I'll need to take a look at this merchandise of yours, Watanabe. You see, I've heard some upsetting information about things going on in this city, and I currently have reason to believe you are involved.**__** "

Clicking his tongue in annoyance at having his question ignored, Choujurou looked at his helpers before nodding towards the hooded man, prompting them to take threatening steps in his direction.

" ** _ _ **Hah~**__** " The figure sighed helplessly, " ** _ _ **The hard way it is then.**__** "

The hooded person __moved__ , stopping in front of the Tanto wielder and punching him in the chest, causing him to cough out a few flecks of blood before falling onto the ground, fully unconscious.

The other goon didn't hesitate to attack, aiming a heavy punch at the back of this figure's head with deadly intent, only for his eyes to widen as his fist froze mid punch.

He took a pair of staggering steps backward before looking down, seeing the shape of a fist marked visibly on his chest. His eyes fluttered for a moment before rolling back into his head, his body falling like a puppet whose strings were cut.

" ** _ _ **Now that that's done...**__** "

The figure turned it's shadowed face towards Choujurou, an odd pressure akin to having the air itself pressing down on him causing the glasses clad man to freeze in place.

" ** _ _ **Are you going to have a civilized conversation with me now, Watanabe, or am I going to have to be nasty towards you as well?**__** "

A bead of nervous sweat rolled down his neck, emphasizing the nervous bobbing of his Adam's apple. Licking his suddenly dry lips, he spoke up.

"Y-you... You're one of those kung fu freaks aren't you?"

The hooded figure tilted it's head at Choujurou without saying another word, something which gave the criminal the courage to speak up.

"You chinese fucks have been coming into the country and trying to take away our business just because you know some freaky shaolin bullshit, well let me tell you that you have no idea who you're messing with! Me? I'm just a big fish in a small pond, I admit it, but there are real dangerous folks out there! Big, terrifying sharks of different shapes and temperaments, the sort of people you shouldn't mess with!"

His anger, indignation and bravado fueling him, Choujurou clenched his eyes shut as he spoke with ferocity

"You keep involving yourself in stuff you shouldn't and you're gonna get to see if your fancy fighting stuff can compete with gunpowder and lead!"

" ** _ _ **How interesting...**__** "

Choujurou threw himself aside with a fearful shout at the sudden voice whispering right into his ear. Scrabbling into a seated position, he turned towards the place the hooded figure stood at, which was behind his own original position.

" ** _ _ **You were saying something about 'Shaolin Bullshit' ?**__** "

"Ah-I... I didn't..."

Choujurou's eyes widened at the sudden sensation of all-encompassing, overwhelming death that engulfed him, as if the clawed hand of the grim reaper had wrapped itself around his heart, softly playing with it as it decided on whether or not it should destroy it's toy.

" ** _ _ **Talk.**__** "

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said those things! I should have recognized the might of the Quantou Clan! I promise that I'll never disrespect the great clan again! I recognize the supremacy of the art!"

The hooded figure folded both of its arms behind its back before speaking.

" ** _ _ **This Quantou clan... How long has it been since they've started involving themselves in Japanese underworld business?**__** "

Choujurou blinked owlishly for a moment before speaking.

"Y-your eminence is not from the Quantou clan?"

" ** _ _ **I asked you a question.**__** "

"Three months! They appeared in Hadano city three months ago, and they started butting into the business of the locals since then! Some of this area's families tried to get together and drive them out of here, but a single member of their clan beat all of them on his own! Since then they've been the local overlords! I managed to not get suppressed like the others because I just find transportation for things, regardless of who owns said things!"

" ** _ _ **I see... This Quantou clan, what sort of business do they usually conduct?**__** "

"T-they... A little bit of everything! Protection fees on the businesses of the city, weapons, prostitutes, drugs, they're involved in all of it! The stuff I'm trying to run right now is some of the last 'candy' that isn't theirs, the owners are willing to pay me a pretty penny for getting it out of the city before it can get 'confiscated'!"

" ** _ _ **...How would I be able to recognize a member of the Quantou clan if I came across them on the street?**__** "

"They wear these traditional chinese clothes! Changpao, Magua, the whole thing, like they came right from the past! They also have this attitude around them, as if they looked down on everyone not a member of their clan!"

" ** _ _ **I see... Now, as for this 'candy' you spoke about... What exactly are you referring to? Because in context I think you mean drugs, but based on what I heard you saying about the daughter of that man over there, Jushiro, it might mean something completely different, in which case I would get very upset...**__** "

"It's drugs! It's just drugs, I swear!"

Despite its face being hidden in shadows, Choujurou could still feel the hooded figure's heavy gaze fix itself on him, something that caused all of his survival instincts to shout even louder than they already were, before the figure finally turned it's back on him, a movement which coincided with the fading of the feeling of death that had been hanging around him.

" ** _ _ **I believe you. Now scram, take your family and go on a long vacation or something.**__** "

The criminal bowed his thanks to the hooded figure repeatedly before getting back up to his feet and speed walking his way to the door, unwilling to run in the vicinity of someone his brain had marked with the label 'Do not fuck with under any circumstances!'.

" ** _ _ **Oh, also, drop out of the criminal lifestyle and go legit.**__** "

Choujurou's intent to speak up died a miserable death under a sudden burst of **__**Pressure**__** that caused a mixture of foul, unpleasant smells to fill the warehouse, and his pants to gain a golden and brown makeover. Ignoring everything else, Choujurou simply sprinted out of the warehouse and into the night.

Jushiro, the bald extortion victim that watched everything occur with a gaze filled with a mix of fear, awe and schadenfreude, froze when the hooded figure turned its head toward him.

" ** _ _ **Is that truck parked outside yours?**__** "

"I... Yes-"

 ** _ _ **Clack.**__**

A plastic card clattered to a halt right in front of Jushiro. Looking at the figure and seeing no new motion from it, Jushiro hesitantly picked it up, seeing on it only a single phone number.

" ** _ _ **If you want to ensure a better life for yourself and your daughter, then call that number. Some people I know are in need of transport for some customized bikes, and your truck looks big enough for it.**__** "

"But-"

" ** _ _ **Whether you make the call or not is your choice, but, in case you do choose to call, make sure to say that you were guided by a red dragon.**__** "

Having said that, the hooded figure placed each of the downed goons atop a shoulder before jumping into the shadows of the warehouse, leaving Jushiro alone with the plastic card in his hands.

He stared intently at the card, knowing that it could just as easily be the key to a better life for himself and his daughter, as it could be a collar, the leash of which was held by a different master.

While still holding the card, Jushirou pushed himself back to his feet, only to inwardly curse when his wallet fell out of his pocket. Ignoring the aches and pains all over his body, he bent back down to pick up his walled, only for a photograph of his daughter, happily smiling in front of her chosen university to fall out of it. At that moment, Jushirou made a choice.

Taking his phone out of his pocket and inwardly thanking all the gods he knew for the fact that it had survived the beating he suffered, Jushirou dialed a phone number with trembling hands. As soon as the call was picked up, and before he could lose his nerve and chicken out, Jushirou spoke.

"I was guided by a red dragon..."

* * *

* _ _Ploft!__ *

Having dropped the two weapon-bearing goons in front of a police station's evidence box, the hooded figure walked a large distance to an isolated area. Looking around to ensure that they were alone, the figure pulled it's hood back, revealing a head of brown hair with a very distinct purple bang in the front, and a face that could be considered boyishly cute, even if just barely above average.

' _ _When I got messaged by Susanoo, I expected having to fight some sort of supernatural being in the countryside, not interrogating crooks, busting an extortion attempt and getting involved in regular underworld business.__ '

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **He is literally a Yakuza boss. The underworld in your town is run by supernatural beings. Based on your experience so far, there's no reason for you to not expect those two aspects to intersect.**__** ** **]****

' _ _I thought those were the exception, not the norm!__ '

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **They may well be. Remember, you have a knack for getting involved in things that are weird even in terms of the supernatural world. It's part of this 'Dragon aura' thing, packaged in with the charisma. If there are 2 supernatural individuals in every 100.000 members of the Yakuza, you could possible meet 10 of them in a row.**__** ** **]****

' _ _...I'm not sure if you meant that as a good or bad thing, so I'll just take it as you saying I'm special and go on with my night.__ '

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **You're special, alright, but I can guarantee that's not a good thing, you breast-obsessed brat.**__** ** **]****

' _ _You say that as if it were an insult.__ '

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **You're lucky I can't go out there and hit you.**__** ** **]****

' _ _I'd love to give you more opportunities to show off your 'Tsundere' side, but I have a chinese martial arts clan to go after. Because that's a thing, apparently.__ '

His talk with Ddraig over, Issei pulled the hood back over his head before vanishing into the shadows.

* * *

"Come! I, your daddy Quantou Lin, shall teach you a lesson that you will never forget!"

A black-haired man clad in a white suit glared angrily at the speaker, a figure clad in a dark blue C _ _hangpao__ , an earthy brown __Magua__ and black trousers and kung fu shoes.

"You think that just because your family has some prestige here I'm going to let you get away with disrespecting me, a proud member of the Tsuyoi family?"

"I disrespect you not just because of my Quantou clan, but because I, Lin, personally have the strength to. If you disagree with that thought, then come and change my mind."

"With pleasure!"

"Taishiro-senpai-" one of the young men on the side of the suited Yakuza spoke up, "I think it's best if we just left!"

The white-suited man, Taishiro, responded by backhanding said young man so hard that he flew backwards for a few feet, a thin trail of blood running down the corner of his mouth. Giving the downed for of his junior a contemptuous look, he spoke.

"In this world, strength is everything! To show weakness is the worst disgrace in existence! To be weak is more disgraceful than dying! That is the way of the Tsuyoi family! If you are a true man, and a true member of my Tsuyoi family, you will forever remember this!"

A single backhand. That was all Taishiro hit his junior with. Yet, that single backhand was enough to cause said junior to lie on the ground limply, his chest still.

"Hoh~" Lin's eyebrow and lip quirked upwards, before he spoke up in a slightly less contemptuous tone of voice, "It seems that not all of the japanese are completely garbage if there are still martial artists amongst you."

"That's right!" Taishiro proceeded to rip off his jacket and shirt, revealing a muscular torso covered in all sort of scars. Slamming a clenched fist against his chest, he spoke in a tone full of pride. "The Tsuyoi family does not admit weaklings! Every single one of it's members are individuals with the potential to become strong! We all undergo strenuous training for years on end, meant to draw out the utmost potential from our bodies! Only those who succeed in passing through the training become full fledged members of our family!"

"Indeed? And what happens to those who fail?"

"If they show at least some measure of strength, they get the honor to become the servants of the Tsuyoi family. If they don't, well... Death is a merciful alternative to weakness."

"Finally, for the first time since I've come to this country I hear someone saying something that makes sense. Too bad said person is about to die."

"WHY YOU!"

Taishiro sprinted at Lin fast enough to become a blur of motion to most people present.

" ** _ _ **Strong Fist Strike!**__** "

A fist full of destructive power streaked through the air and towards Lin's face, it's motion alone generating a breeze that shook the hair and clothes of all those present.

" ** _ _ **Sturdy as the mountain.**__** "

As soon as those words were said, a feeling of immovability filled the area, as if a massive mountain had been raised in the middle of the street. In response to said feeling, Taishiro did nothing more than increase the speed of hist fist.

 ** _ _ **CRACK**__**

"ARGH!"

The instant Taishiro's fist collided with Lin's face, his eyes widened and a scream of pain involuntarily made its way up his throat. He hopped away from Lin, his still good left hand propping up his limp right arm.

"Heh, is that what you consider to be strength? I simply stood there and did nothing, yet your fist was incapable of as much as bruising me. Is that what the japanese people consider to be strong?"

Taishiro grit his teeth in anger, releasing his right arm before clenching his left one so hard that veins started popping up visibly all the way up to his shoulder.

"I won't let you look down on my Tsuyoi family!"

His eyes narrowed as he bent his legs, causing his trousers to get pushed to the limits of their elasticity, while an unnatural breeze emerged around his clenched fist, causing Lin's mocking smirk to turn into a straight line.

"Very well. Since you are a decent enough person to not try to escape or beg even when they know they've already been defeated, I have decided to let you get a taste of what __true__ martial arts look like."

Having said that, Lin clenched his left fist and placed it atop his right one, all the while spacing his feet out into a horse stance.

" ** **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!**** "

Having said that, Taishiro shot towards Lin so hard that tiny cracks were left behind in the concrete, before shooting forward while brandishing a fist so strong that it looked like it should easily crack a tree in half.

" ** **Strong Mountain Hard Fist.**** "

Taishiro suddenly flew in the opposite direction, a bleeding hole in the middle of his chest, before slamming into another one of his companions so hard that they got knocked down, tumbled across the ground and only stopped when slamming back first into a wall.

"This is the Quantou Clan's premier punching technique. Using this technique, my father was capable of breaking a boulder in half with a single strike. __This__ is what true martial arts look like."

"Taishiro-senpai!"

Taishiro's juniors picked up his body and ran.

"You think that I'll allow you to leave after all of this?"

Lin vanished from where he stood, appearing behind one of the escaping Tsuyoi family underlings with an arm cocked back.

" ** _ _ **I don't think so.**__** "

A figure clad in a hooded jacket appeared in front of Lin and, in a split second, slapped his wrist upwards, causing his punch to miss its target completely and instead release a wave of air that tripped one of the runners. Said runner turned around for a moment, spotting the hooded figure facing off with a grave-looking Lin, before turning back around and running on.

Lin, looking __truly__ serious for the first time that night, shifted his stance before speaking up.

"Who are you?"

" ** _ _ **...**__** "

The lack of answer caused him to frown angrily, but before he could say another thing, the hooded figure spoke up.

" ** _ _ **Why are you here?**__** "

"I should be the one asking that question! Why have you involved yourself in business that does not concern you?"

" ** _ _ **Are you or are you not a member of the Quantou clan?**__** "

"What do you want with the Quantou clan?"

" ** _ _ **So when you said you were part of the Quantou clan earlier, were you just using their name to scare those people, or are you simply embarrassed of the name you bear?**__** "

Issei's words caused Lin's eyes to flash with anger, and prompted him to speak in a malicious tone.

"You can eat anything you wish, but you must mind what comes out of your mouth! Mind your words, or I will act very rudely!"

" ** _ _ **Why are the Quantou clan here in japan?**__** "

"That is none of your business!"

" ** _ _ **...The hard way it is.**__** "

As soon as those words left Issei's mouth, Lin dashed towards him with a fist cocked back.

" ** **Strong Mountain Hard Fist!**** "

The same punch that easily opened a hole in a man's torso flew towards Issei, yet his response was to nonchalantly grab Lin's wrist, causing his fist to halt just an inch away from his face, before replying with a side kick that knocked Lin back more than a few feet, causing him to go down onto a single knee and spit out blood.

The kneeling Lin turned a look that was equal parts pained and scared towards Issei before speaking up.

"Stop! I am the Quantou clan's number one disciple! If you do anything to me, my __Quantou__ clan will not forgive you!"

Scoffing lightly, Issei spoke.

" ** _ _ **If you are the strongest disciple of your clan, then there is no reason for me to be afraid of them. Now tell me... Why. Is. The. Quantou. Clan. Here?**__** "

These words were backed up with a blast of **__**Pressure**__** that caused Lin to freeze in place, his eyes widening to the extreme, and a deep fear welling up in his chest. Seeing the hooded person advancing towards him with visible malicious intent, Lin spoke up in a panicked hurry.

"We were ordered!"

Issei stopped mid-step, tilting his head in a manner that, paired with the shadows covering his face, were sure to further unnerve Lin.

"My Quantou clan is not here because it wishes to be! We were ordered to come here!"

" ** _ _ **Explain.**__** "

"The Quantou clan is only a minor branch of the Shanmai clan! We were all ordered to prepare what was necessary to come over from our homeland, and after that we were ordered to establish ourselves in this city!"

" ** _ _ **Why?**__** "

"We... we..."

Seeing that Lin was hesitating, Issei further increased the amount of **__**Pressure**__** he was releasing, causing his interrogation target to slam face-first into the ground, as if a giant hand was pressing down on him. Breathing shallowly and frantically, Lin stopped hesitating and spilled his guts.

"We receive missions! Any order we are given by the Shanmai clan, we follow it! If they tell us to rob someone, we do it! If they tell us to kill someone, we do it! If-"

" ** _ _ **If they tell you to kidnap people... Children, from their beds... You do it. Isn't that right?**__** "

Lin's eyes widened in shock after those words, something that prompted Issei to sigh before speaking further.

" ** _ _ **So the mysterious disappearances in this city are your work... Despicable.**__** "

Lin's eyes widened further when the hooded figure in front of him vanished from his sight, before a pained gasp escaped from his lips, paired with a burning sensation on his torso, felt from his back and all the way to his chest.

Lin felt more so than watched the hooded person stepping over him before slowly walking away.

" ** _ _ **Enjoy these next few minutes, as they'll be the last ones you'll ever have. If it's any consolation to you, I deeply wished that you and your clan hadn't given me a reason to take away more lives. It is something I consider deeply unpleasant for the most part.**__** "

"Ha ha ha..."

Weak laughter reached Issei's ears, prompting him to stop mid-step.

" _ _You... Think... You... Can... Win? Ha ha... Even if... You can destroy... My Quantou clan... Shanmai clan... You'll never...__ "

Having said those words, Lin breathed out his last, before his body stilled.

Sighing out loud, Issei pointed a finger over his shoulder, a flash of yellow light splashing over the entirety of the empty area around him for an instant. When the light faded, the area was fully empty. No hooded figure, and no Lin. Only a handful of ashes on the asphalt, which drifted away in a light breeze.

* * *

 ** _ _ **BANG!**__**

A massively loud noise rang throughout the entirety of the Quantou clan's compound, awakening all of the sleeping clan members, and causing them to flood the man courtyard.

Arriving there, all of the newly arrived members were surprised and shocked by the sight of a hooded figure serenely standing beside a pile composed of the unconscious bodies of all of the nighttime guards.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Shouted a 30-something aged bald man with a thick mustache at the hooded figure, "WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON THE HOME OF MY QUANTOU CLAN AND HURT ITS MEMBERS!?"

" ** _ _ **I have come here to talk with the head of the Quantou clan.**__** "

"The head of the Quantou clan? Are you even qualified to see the folds of his clothes? I, Quantou Pojun, the strongest disciple of the Quantou clan, shall make you pay for the humiliation you heap upon us!"

" ** _ _ **Hoh? I thought Lin was the strongest disciple of this clan.**__** "

"Lin? That talentless piece of trash? What a joke! NOW DIE! ****STRONG MOUNTAIN HARD FIST!**** "

Pojun streaked towards Issei at a speed much higher than Lin ever was capable of, enough to cause the other watching members of the Quantou clan to sigh and gasp in admiration, while a fist full of violent, destructive intent flew beside him.

" ** _ _ **You are indeed many times faster than Lin, and your Strong Mountain Hard Fist is leagues stronger than his own. However...**__** "

 ** _ _ **BANG!**__**

Pojun's eyes weren't the only ones trembling at the sight of his fist being halted by a single, nonchalantly stretched out finger from the hooded figure.

" ** _ _ **10 times zero is still zero.**__** "

A single push of the finger had Pojun flying backwards fast enough that were he to slam into a solid object, he would likely break his back.

"You wished to meet with the head of the Quantou clan."

A single aged hand lightly placed on his back caused Pojun's entire momentum to die out, before a shock wave rippled below them as the energy was wholly redirected into the ground.

"I am Quantou Shumei, the head of the Quantou clan. Who might you be?"

Shumei was a thin, wrinkled old man, with thinning white hair in a ponytail that reached all the way to his back. Despite the visible signs of age on his person, the air around him still spoke of great vigor.

The sight of Shumei instantly had all of the clan's members staring at him with borderline religious reverence, with some actually bursting out into tears of relief.

" ** _ _ **What can you tell me of the Shanmai clan?**__** "

Shumei's eyes narrowed after those words were said, before he spoke in a threatening tone.

"There are certain things that must not be said, and there are certain foes that should not be made. Turn around and leave right now, give me some face, and your offenses against my Quantou clan may be gracefully forgiven."

" ** _ _ **Tell me of the Shanmai clan. Now.**__** "

"So you have chosen death."

Having said that, Shumei took one step and appeared right in front of Issei, his palm already a hair's breadth from his chest.

" ** _ _ **Hmph.**__** "

Issei snorted contemptuously, blocking the palm with his own, causing the two of them to be pushed back an equal distance.

" ** _ _ **Not bad.**__** "

"You are a skilled fellow. Are you truly unwilling to give me some face and leave? I would rather create bonds of fellowship than enmity with a martial artist of your caliber."

" ** _ _ **Do you truly believe I'd create bonds of fellowship with a clan that kidnaps children without batting an eye?**__** "

Shumei's eyes widened, his voice angry as he spoke.

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!"

" ** _ _ **Quantou Lin.**__** "

"LIN! COME HERE!"

Shumei's shout reverberated through the entire compound, the sheer shock wave causing the majority of the people present to get knocked down.

" ** _ _ **You won't see him again.**__** "

"And why is that?"

" ** _ _ **Because he's dead.**__** "

The moment those words left Issei's mouth, a collective gasp sounded through the entire compound. The previously composed Shumei stared at Issei with undisguised malice as he spoke through gritted teeth.

" _ _He what?__ "

" ** _ _ **He's dead.**__** "

"AHRRRRRGH! HOW DARE YOU!?" A different voice belonging to a middle-aged man reached Issei's ears as the man flew towards him with a heart full of grief, each of his hands holding a jian. He swung both jian with the intent to decapitate Issei, only for him to spit out a mouthful of blood before flying backwards, a hole visible through his chest.

" _ _First, you killed my grandson...__ "

Issei turned his focus back towards Shumei as he spoke.

" _ _Now, right in front of me, you kill my son... I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER! I WILL RIP OUT EVERY MUSCLE FROM YOUR BODY! I WILL MAKE YOU BEG FOR DEATH!__ ** _ _ **STRONG MOUNTAIN CRUSHING FIST!**__** "

The old man suddenly appeared in front of Issei, much faster than he had previously, before his fist suddenly appeared already in contact with Issei's chest.

" ** _ _ **RAGH!**__** "

He stomped the ground with enough strength to make an imprint of his foot before pushing his fist forward, causing a shock wave to explode from Issei's back, and causing a portion of his jacket to explode off of his torso, revealing the large scar over his heart.

Unlike Shumei's expectations, however, the hooded figure didn't simply fall over unconscious. Instead, it grabbed one of the now tattered parts of his jacket, before speaking up in a tone of mild irritation.

" ** _ _ **I really liked this jacket.**__** "

Having said that, the hooded figure __moved__ , before Shumei staggered back a couple of steps, to the surprise of his clan members. A moment later, a thin trail of blood ran down each of his nostrils.

He wiped the blood off of his face before clapping his hands together and shifting his legs into a wide stance.

" ** **Stone Asura of the Ages!**** "

Shumei's whole skin changed in both hue and texture until he looked as if he were made entirely out of stone, a feeling that could only be described as 'durable' hanging around his still body.

"This is my Quantou clan's strongest technique, something that only the clan head learns as it comes with a heavy price. When used, this technique will give the user's body the durability of a stone boulder, and will put the strength of of a mountain behind each of their strikes! However, the drawback is that the user becomes stuck in terms of the art, unable to ever progress in either strength or understanding.

"Such a terrible fate for the younger ones who are the future of the clan, but perfect as the hidden weapon of an old man like myself!"

" ** _ _ **Interesting. I guess I'll be allowing you to test the actual strength of that technique for the first time, no?**__** "

After saying that, Issei appeared in front of Shumei and released a barrage of fists against his chest, each of them alone being enough to cause the entire compound around them to tremble.

"TOO WEAK!"

Shumei allowed the hooded figure to strike at him, completely forsaking any thoughts of defending and instead releasing a downward punch.

 ** _ _ **BOOM!**__**

A massive explosion obliterated the parts of the Quantou estate that weren't already destroyed, and caused a massive cloud of dust to rise around the two fighters.

" ** _ _ **Not bad.**__** "

Having said those words, Issei waved a single arm, releasing a strong breeze that instantly dispersed the smoke cloud, revealing a massive crater underneath his and Shumei's feet.

"You... I know I hit you! You should be at the very least broken and paralyzed!"

" ** _ _ **Your wishes and reality are two very distinct things.**__** "

Having said that, Issei nonchalantly walked up to the shocked Shumei, cocked back his arm, and threw a punch at a regular speed, that any average person could easily achieve.

"Guh-!"

The instant that slow punch struck Shumei's gut, a massive quake struck the ruined Quantou compound as Shumei did his best to redirect as much of the damage into the ground as possible. Despite this, he still ended up coughing up blood, and with his stone skin utterly cracked, and on the verge of shattering completely.

The old man who previously stood sturdy as a rock statue that the rest of his clan could look at in admiration was now on his knees, his breathing shallow and labored, and a wide bloodstain on the ground below him.

He looked back up to the thing that had utterly demolished him with a mixture of awe and terror, his voice conveying both as he spoke.

" _ _What... Are you?__ "

Issei walked up to the kneeling old man, forcing him to have to look even higher than he already was in order to keep looking at the shadowed hood, before speaking.

" ** _ _ **What connection does your Quantou clan have with the Shanmai clan?**__** "

Seeing the inflexible look on Shumei's face, Issei sighed and shook his head, before speaking.

" ** _ _ **Don't make this any harder than it has to be. You have the information that I want and you know it, but I also have you completely outmatched in strength. You don't have enough strength to run, or even kill yourself right now. Your only options are to speak, and earn yourself a swift and painless death, or force me to do something as distasteful as torture.**__**

" ** _ _ **Don't misunderstand things, though. I may find torture very distasteful, but that doesn't mean I'm not good at it. So, what will it be?**__** "

"...Shanmai Xu. He was my contact. He made sure that the missions that the Shanmai leadership assigned to it's affiliate clans reached their hands. He currently lives in Tsuchiura city. I was supposed to meet him next week, since they'll be having a festival, and update him on our Quantou clan's success in the task we were given."

" ** _ _ **The task of kidnapping kids.**__** "

"...Yes."

The voice coming from the hood sounded even calmer than before, yet Shunmei felt many times more scared of it than before.

" ** _ _ **What are the Shanmai clan doing with the children they're kidnapping?**__** "

"That I do not know. My most likely bet? They're trying to increase the number of talented members they have. Kidnap children with good innate talent in the art, raise them in an environment where their worth directly correlates to their martial skill, and give them the best martial arts education possible. That is just a possibility, though. It could very possibly be something else altogether."

Issei nodded at that, before asking a question.

" ** _ _ **In your Quantou clan compound, are there any children, or any members that are unrelated to the kidnapping plot?**__** "

"...The future of our clan still exists in our homeland, being nurtured in a proper environment. As for those Quantou clan members that have come with me... They are all people who place the honor of the Quantou clan above all else. If they are ordered by their master to steal, they will. Kill? With pleasure. Rape? No hesitation.

"If I or any members of the Shanmai clan were to order all of them to go out and kill as many civilians as they could, none of them would hesitate to bat an eyelash."

A deep silence engulfed the two men after those words, before Issei spoke again.

" ** _ _ **You could have lied to me. You could have told me your clan members are innocent, that you alone are guilty, and they could have gotten away safely. Why didn't you?**__** "

Shumei chuckled bitterly, a few flecks of blood splashing out of his lips in the process, before speaking.

"When you punched me that last time... I felt a deep, bottomless well of power.

"There are words you should not say, and there are foes you should not make. The irony of me saying those words is blatant.

"As I said before, the members of my Quantou clan put the honor of the clan itself above everything else. If any of the members that watched our battle were to survive, they would likely return to our homeland, and poison the pure, untainted saplings that are the new generation of my Quantou clan. They would wish to gain revenge, and come after you again, and again, and again.

"It isn't too outlandish to believe that that would result in the full extermination of my Quantou clan.

"If, on the other hand, all of the knowing members are to die here today, my Quantou clan will not create a sense of enmity against you, and neither will they be involved in the horrid acts we have committed so far.

"I am willing to sacrifice myself and my future for vengeance, but not my Quantou clan, that I watched my predecessor painstakingly build up with blood, sweat and tears.

"So please, go ahead. Clean my Quantou clan's slate, allow us a fresh start."

" ** _ _ **...Those last words of yours were almost admirable. If only that honor of yours came out when the possibility of kidnapping children was mentioned, then we wouldn't be here right now.**__** "

"Heh... There is no medicine for regret."

" ** _ _ **Indeed.**__** "

After saying that, Issei allowed a wave of electricity to explode outwards with him at the center with the intent of utterly destroying the Quantou estate, and kill everyone present.

Shumei watched the wave of lightning approaching him with little more than a sense of serenity, until a stray beam of light broke through the darkness of his killer's hood, with the sight that met him causing his eyes to widen in extreme surprise, before his mouth twisted into a rueful smile.

'To think that someone so powerful, so gifted in the art as to achieve the transformation of Ki into elements wasn't a centuries-old grandmaster, but a child less than two decades old... Heh, that's even more terrifying than the fist option. I believe that the Shanmai clan has made an enemy that it is unable to match, and they're not even aware of it. But to die at the hands of such a monstrous youth... There are worse ways to go.'

With those as his last thoughts, Quantou Shumei was engulfed by the electricity, feeling only an instant of vibration, before losing his ability to feel anything else, forever.

In a single night, the Quantou clan that had dominated Hadano city fell, and the news spread quickly. Less than a day later, many of the criminal groups and families that had been oppressed by the Quantou clan, and others who saw new business opportunities in the newly freed city entered a state of war, each of them attempting to fill the power vacuum.

Watanabe Choujurou knew nothing of this, having moved his whole family to Nagano city overnight and taken up a job as an office worker.

* * *

"...After that, I killed the old man's clan and obliterated their estate. There's nothing to be found and identified, no skeletons, or even magical signatures were left untouched."

" _ _...I see.__ " Susanoo's voice sounded through the phone's speaker," _ _To think that the triads were the ones behind the kidnapping of children all along...__ "

"I'd like to know exactly what you mean by the that."

" _ _The triads... Well, it's a bit of a complex story. You see, martial artists used to be a dime a dozen all over Asia in the older days. Practitioners of various different schools, such as Kenpo, Kendo, Muay Boran and Thai, Tai Chi and many more were widespread in the entirety of Asia. However, with the advancements of technology, and more specifically the creation and advancement of firearms, martial arts became less and less widespread.__

 _"_ _ _That is, except for China. While the majority of the martial artists clans and sects either fought against their government's control and the changes in social hierarchy and were killed, died out as their members abandoned the old ways, or became watered-down versions of themselves and turned into the widely available version of martial arts that, while good for the body and discipline, are incapable of actually tapping into the Ki, the chinese martial artists made a different choice. As soon as they saw the winds of change blowing, they took everything they had and went underground.__

" _ _They allowed their clans to keep growing in size and scale without entering into direct opposition, or even sight, of the chinese government and it's different revolutions and reformations. Instead, they acted in the shadows, amassing power in the chinese underworld.__

" _ _Basically all of the big bosses of the triads either are martial artists, or have deep bonds to them. And since the chinese martial arts community is split from the government and the chinese mainstream, the few true martial artists from other countries often go to china in order to improve in their own mastery of the art without paying any mind to political differences or issues.__

" _ _Since the overwhelming majority of the martial artists are located in china, and the chinese martial arts families and clans have successfully preserved many of their old instruction manuals, guides and training methods and instruments, they are generally considered to be the strongest martial artists in the world.__ "

"So, when I hear of the triads, I should directly think of chinese martial arts clans... But, something there doesn't make sense. If the chinese are the best martial artists, coming from consecutive generations of martial arts, then why would they kidnap japanese children to recruit to their clans? The lack of exposure to concentrated Ki from clan mates from childhood, or even the Ki of their mother while in the womb would make it so that the average child is less likely to be talented in martial arts.

"If they have a widely available pool of talented individuals that they don't need to cross the sea and kidnap, then why would they?"

" _ _If not for recruitment, why would they be kidnapping the children?__ "

"...The first mysterious kidnappings began three months ago, coinciding with the movement of the triads into japan based on the information I got today. However, the people doing the kidnapping don't really have a good reason to do so, as anything they could get from japanese children, they likely could from chinese children too.

"That means that it's likely not them needing to kidnap japanese children, but rather, them needing to kidnap children in japan."

" _ _They could have some sort of plan that involves something like sacrificing a lot of children in Japan?__ "

"But if that were their plan, then wouldn't it simply be easier for them to bring the children with them from china and just lie low until they could concretize their plan?"

" _ _Then what do you think is going on?__ "

"The Quantou clan was forced to pick up any needed gear and bring all of it's eligible members to japan on a dime in order to work for the Shanmai clan. Could it not be that rather than the Shanmai clan being the third party interested in kidnapping children, they are actually __working__ for the ones that wish to kidnap kids?"

" _ _That is a possibility. I guess we'll know more when you fulfill your second mission.__ "

"Second mission?"

" _ _We have a place, we have a time, and we have a name. Shanmai Xu. All we need now is to get information from him, and we can figure out who our shadow faction is. That is... If you are willing to accept the mission?__ "

"I already started doing it, I guess I'm seeing it through to the end now."

" _ _Thank you. Your payment for this mission has already been wired to an offshore account, the number of which you are the sole person privy to. Wouldn't want to wire a bunch of money into your regular account and have the tax folks sniffing around, after all.__ "

"Good. I'll talk to you when I have more info. Oh, and say hi to Amaterasu for me."

Having said that, Issei disconnected from the call, before staring at his ruined hooded jacket.

'Hah... I wasn't being facetious when I said that I really liked this one. Freaking annoying. I'll need to find something else to wear for my missions that will hide my identity... I guess I'll figure it out later. For now, though, I have a battle to fight with quadratic equations.'

From there, Issei's thoughts shifted primarily towards his schoolwork, with his upcoming second mission getting relegated to a small corner of his mind.

Education is very important, after all!

* * *

" _ _The Quantou clan fell. Completely annihilated to the last member stationed here in Japan. Even their compound was totalled.__ "

" ** **Is the Shanmai clan aware of this?**** "

" _ _Not yet. Should I warn them?__ "

" ** **No. The Quantou clan's destruction might simply be the result of them annoying the wrong person, be it here in Japan, or back in china. A very proud bunch, those martial artists.**** "

" _ _And if it isn't personal, and our operation is getting targeted directly?__ "

" ** **Do not worry, I already have a plan in place for that eventuality.**** "

" _ _Heh... You always were a quick thinker.__ "

" ** **I have to be, if I wish to protect humanity from the monsters that would destroy them all.**** "

" _ _A man of the cause, through and through.__ "

" ** **Fuck yes I am!"****

" _ _Haha! Now that we're done, I'm hanging up before I catch your fanaticism.__ "

 ** _ _ **Click.**__**

" ** **Tch, he makes fun of me because he's not felt the danger of those things on his own. But he'll thank me, in the end. They'll all thank me, especially when they see how dangerous the freaks**** ** _ _ **really**__** ** **are.****

" ** _ _ **Humanitas Today, Humanitas Forever!**__** "

 ** _ _ **-Chapter, End!-**__**


	31. Actors and Masks

****I'm still standing, prouder than I've ever been~****

 ** **So, yeah, new chapter, and really fast too!****

 ** **Before it though, I'd like to thank Tyric Gaia, Shen and James for their support! You guys rock!****

 ** **If you enjoy my work and wish to support me as well, you can do so by following the story, giving it a favorite and review, signal boosting it, and checking me out at 'Pat reon -dot- com -slash- Francogamerxz'.****

 ** **With that being said... Story time.****

* * *

"Regular character Speech"

" _ _Differently inflectioned character speech__ " (Whispering, hissing)

" ** **Powerful Speech**** " (Backed by Killing intent, Presence, sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _ _Mind reading/Telepathic conversation__ '

 ** **[Ddraig Speaking out loud]****

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei**__** ** **]****

' **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking** '

* * *

"I have news!"

Issei, Motohama, Matsuda and a recently recovered Aika turned their focus towards Lilith, prompting the succubus - __something known by only herself and Issei__ \- to elaborate.

"My school is going to have an event soon, something about 'showing the quality of our facilities, staff and students', and invitations have been sent to the various middle and high schools here in Kuoh."

"Wait a second," Aika spoke up, "Yesterday we were told that today we wouldn't be having regular classes, and to instead prepare for something special. I guess we know what that something special is, now."

"Yup! It's gonna be this festival thing! Classes and clubs can set up booths with different activities, there's gonna be good food, music, and all that good stuff!"

"So let me get this straight," Matsuda piped up, "Instead of having to deal with books, desks and our sleep-inducing history teacher like usual, we get to go out of school and to a place where we'll be able to do all sorts of fun things, all the while ogling beautiful girls?"

The bald pervert and his glasses-clad counterpart clenched their fists in synchronicity, tears streaming down their faces as they spoke up simultaneously.

"I LOVE MY LIFE!"

"I LOVE MY LIFE!"

Lilith and Aika could only smile in amusement at the two young men, before Issei walked up to them and wrapped an arm over each of their shoulders, a small smile on his face as he spoke.

"I'll get to spend a full day with both of my girlfriends today... This week is looking up for me!"

The two girls gave Issei rueful smiles even as they peeled away from Issei, Lilith speaking up for the two of them.

"Usually we'd love to be as close to you as possible, but right now we are all sweaty, sticky and gross, so..."

Issei raised an eyebrow at the girls.

"I don't see what's the big deal when the two of you have already done even more sticky, sweaty things with me."

Motohama and Matsuda turned gazes full of admiration towards their friend, knowing that he had already crossed the expanse that separates boys from men in all possible aspects, while Aika spoke up in a put-upon tone.

"Well that is one thing, and this is another one altogether. We might be perverts but we're still girls, and girls can easily get self-conscious about this sort of thing, so no touchy for now."

Issei's other eyebrow rose, before he spoke up with a shrug.

"Alright I guess. Now it's time for-"

 ** _ _ **Beep Beep! Beep Beep!**__**

"It's time for me to go get ready for school!" Lilith said before walking up to Issei and surprising him with a peck to the lips, then running off. Aika did the same thing as Lilith, kissing the brunet and running off, leaving behind a trio of confused boys.

"But," Motohama spoke up, "Didn't they say they were self-conscious about touching you while sweaty?"

"They did," Matsuda responded, "But last time Lilith didn't hesitate to hop onto your lap and give you a tonsil examination. And they both kissed you this time. What gives?"

"Men," Issei spoke in a solemn tone, "Women are beautiful, yet complicated beings. Well catalogued behavior patterns may shift on a dime, things that you expect from them may not come to pass, and things that you do not expect may suddenly occur."

"But we thought you had understood women! At least, between the two girlfriends all in on the Harem plan, the flirting with Akeno-san, and all of the mysterious things you've done during vacation and won't tell us of, that's what it seemed!"

Issei gave his two best friends a rueful, self-deprecating smile, before answering.

"Don't misunderstand things, guys. I may have spent a good amount of time with women lately, and I may know them well on an individual level, but no matter how well you know a girl as a person, you will never understand her as a woman, the same way that no woman will ever fully understand the male gender, even if they know men on a personal level.

"That type of forbidden knowledge is reserved for intellects much beyond our level. According to various mythological tales, not even gods and similar divine beings are fully capable of understanding the opposite gender."

The two perverts gave Issei grave looks, before each of them went down on one knee and spoke in an alternating fashion.

"You have gifted us with great knowledge."

"One with wisdom beyond the ages such as yourself did not need to enlighten us lowly mortals..."

"Yet you have done so regardless."

The two of them proceeded to bow their heads solemnly before speaking earnestly from the bottom of their hearts.

" ** **WE SHALL NEVER FORGET THIS LESSON FROM A SAGE SUCH AS YOURSELF!**** "

" ** **WE SHALL NEVER FORGET THIS LESSON FROM A SAGE SUCH AS YOURSELF!**** "

Giving his two friends a serene, Buddha-like smile, Issei spoke.

"Do not worry, my friends. This wisdom is fully within your ability to grasp. As you progress on your own journey in the world of Ero, your understanding will keep increasing. A day will come where the wisdom you possess shall surpass the realm of the average mortal men as well.

"All that I ask of you is that when you reach that level, you generously spread your own wisdom amongst the others who need it."

The sun chose that moment to slowly rise into visibility behind Issei, it's warm, golden rays creating a halo of light around him that awed the two kneeling young men.

Unnoticed by the three young men, a middle-school aged girl with white hair and an apathetic look to her face was watching the three of them from behind a tree.

'Buchou said that he was like Raiser... But I can't really see that sort of arrogance and entitlement from such a goof...'

Koneko pushed that observation to the back of her mind as the three young men each went on their own way, allowing her to keep trailing one Hyoudou Issei as she had been commanded by her king.

* * *

"Hey there, neighbour!"

Raynare, nowadays going by Amano Yuuma, jumped in surprise at the voice that suddenly came from behind her, barely succeeding in suppressing the reflexive conjuring of light spears as she turned towards the source of the noise, which had just finished climbing the stairs into their floor of the apartment complex.

"You surprised me, Hyoudou-san!"

The brunet scratched the back of his head ruefully as he spoke.

"I sort of gained the habit of moving silently, so... Sorry about that, I guess."

Calming herself down fully, Raynare wore her friendly facade with great skill and experience as she addressed her neighbour.

"I didn't expect you to be up and out of your house so early!"

"I wake up early every day to work out with my friends before school."

These words of his prompted Raynare to shift her focus from Issei's face down to his body. He was clad in a wet, skin-tight tank top, a pair of shorts that didn't go past the halfway point of his thighs, and running shoes, an ensemble that allowed her to see almost the entirety of his athletic form.

'Amano Yuuma' blushed heavily at the sight, while even Raynare, within her own thoughts, had to admit to the fact that this young man was very physically attractive.

'Nowhere near my darling Azazel in terms of attractiveness, but then again, that's a feat impossible for anyone else to achieve... But, he's not half bad for a filthy human...'

While her thoughts were blunt and straightforward, her words came came with calculated embarrassment.

"I-I can see the... R-results..."

Issei smiled sheepishly at her words.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and talk, I really need to go get ready for school, so..."

He nodded at the girl before moving past her and into his apartment, not knowing that as soon as his back was turned, her friendly mien was replaced with an expression of smug arrogance. She looked out the corner of her eye while speaking.

"Typical human, lowers his guard as soon as he sees a pretty girl smiling his way. Doesn't even have the discernment and and even-mindedness to keep on the lookout for anything suspicious. Isn't that right, girl?"

Everything was silent for a moment, before a girlish voice spoke up with animosity.

"What are you doing here?"

Raynare turned fully towards the source of the voice, a white-haired, amber-eyed girl that was staring at her frostily.

"Hoh~" Raynare smirked derisively at the Koneko, shrugging as she answered. "If you must know, I live here. What's __your__ excuse for being here?"

"You better watch yourself, fallen."

"Is that a threat, devil girl? You __do__ know that our factions are in a cease-fire right now, no? Or do you want to reignite the flames of war? Is that something you are capable of shouldering, the responsibility of causing a new war that will kill hundreds of thousands?"

"..."

"Didn't think so," Raynare spoke with an even wider grin, "Now, as someone who lives in this complex, I'd like to ask you to leave, least I am forced to call on security on you."

"...This isn't over."

Having said that, Koneko walked back down the stairs and out of view of Raynare, whose smug smirk changed into a serious frown.

'The devils are sniffing around him as well, that just lends more credence to the possibility of him bearing a sacred gear. Maybe I should start making some inroads with him, to make it easier to recruit him?... No, there's no confirmation on the sacred gear yet. It might just be that the devils think that he will be exceptional while under their evil piece system's reincarnation. He __is__ extremely athletic... I will simply watch for now.'

Having made that decision, Raynare went back into her apartment to get ready for her day.

Issei heard nothing of the previous events, as he had been in the shower the whole time.

* * *

"Man oh man, I can't wait to see the sort of girl that goes to Lilith's school!"

Aika turned a smirk towards Motohama as she spoke.

"Aren't you studying at the previously all-girls school with an 8-2 female-male ratio?"

"I am, yes," Motohama said with a nod, "But is there a limit to the amount of beautiful women a man can admire?"

Matsuda nodded along to his friend's wisdom, while Aika and Akeno looked at eachother and smiled in amusement.

"Well, we're here," Issei spoke up, drawing the attention of his group, "Saint Leona's All Girls Academy."

The group took a small moment to flash the passes they were given to the women standing at the gates before walking into the grounds of the all girls academy.

"So, where should we go first?" came from Aika, a question which had the group go quiet before they all answered at the same time.

"I could go for a bite." Came from Motohama.

"I need to meet up with Buchou." Was Akeno's own contribution.

"I wanna check out their race track." Matsuda said with excitement.

"I want to check out their auditorium!" Aika said with a small smile.

"Well," Issei said while rubbing the back of his head, "It seems I'm the only one without any real plans for the day."

"You could come with one of us?" Aika suggested.

"Mhm..." Issei rubbed his chin as he thought aloud, "I'm not particularly hungry, so I'm not going with Motohama. I'm not part of Akeno's club, not to mention the fact that their president seems to have a bone to pick with my girlfriend, so I'll be missing that particular meeting. I don't have the fascination that Matsuda has for running fast either, so I'm not checking out the track.

"Aika, you drew the short straw and are going to be tolerating me for the day, it seems."

The girl smirked at her jokingly self-deprecating boyfriend, taking a hand to her forehead before speaking up in a dramatic tone.

"Alas, woe is unto me! For such a fair and delicate maiden as myself to be forced into the company of such a lustful beast, I fear that my chastity may not survive until the end of the day!"

Internally amused, Issei affected a comically serious expression as he answered.

"Show me a man whose heart will not tremble in the presence of a beautiful maiden such as yourself, and I shall show you a man who is more to the gates of oblivion than to the realm of the living! After all, only hearts of stone are not moved by beauty, and hearts of stone cannot pump this warm blood of ours!"

Her smirk widening, Aika tossed herself into Issei's chest, before speaking again.

"I fear that even I have already fallen for your words of the sweetness of honey and the danger of venom! A Lothario such as yourself, you truly are the most perilous existence for the fair-hearted maiden~"

Issei trapped Aika's chin between two fingers and tilted her face up before slowly leaning in towards her, their lips slowly growing closer and closer, before they connected into a soft kiss.

They split apart to the surprised and somewhat confused gazes of Motohama and Matsuda, and the closed-eyed smile from Akeno, only for Aika to break the mood with just a few words.

"I think I have a roleplay kink."

"Aaaaaand on that note I'm leaving. Peace!"

And with those words Motohama walked off, with his destination set on wherever he could fill his stomach at.

Matsuda parted with them soon after, as did Akeno, leaving behind the shameless couple, who made their own way towards the auditorium.

* * *

"No, Sebastian, it is too late! They have already reached the gates! There is no more hope of repelling their invasion!"

"Even then, I must try, Elizabeth! The moment I put on this armor and took up the blade, I made a vow. I vowed that I would not run from danger when there are people needing my help. Never again!"

"But you will die!"

"If that is to be my fate, then so be it! But before that, all that I ask is for a single kiss from the one I love..."

" _ _Wow,__ " Aika whispered into Issei's ear, " _ _When I said I wanted to come check out the auditorium I didn't think we'd end up watching a whole play.__ "

" _ _It's an entertaining play at least, so there's that...__ " he whispered back.

" _ _Yeah, you're right. Their male lead's performance is pretty impressive. Y'know, taking into consideration the fact that they're a girl.__ "

" _ _That just gives the kissing scene another layer of intrigue, really.__ "

Aika and Issei smirked at one-another, before turning their focus back towards the genuinely interesting play.

Without them really noticing it an hour had fully passed, with them and the rest of the audience fully enthralled in the play.

"Sebastian! Please don't go! Don't leave me! Please! After my father's death and the fall of my kingdom, you are all that I have left!"

"E-lizabeth... I-I can't... Go on..."

"You can't! You said that we'd always be together! You promised!"

"I'm... Sorry... I guess... This will be... The first time... I break a promise..."

"No, no, no... No, stay with me, Sebastian!"

"Before... I... Go... I'd like... To ask you... For something..."

"Anything, Sebastian! Just please, stay with me!"

"I... Would... Like... Just one... Last... Kiss..."

'Elizabeth' slowly lowered her face to the prone Sebastian's, their lips meeting with just the slightest touch before Sebastian breathed his last, going fully limp on the ground.

"No! Sebastian!"

All of the lamps in the auditorium were shut off, before a spotlight fell over 'Elizabeth', illuminating her to the exclusion of all else.

"Oh, woe is me, to have lost the love of my life! Oh Sebastian, why had you left after taking this heart mine, leaving behind naught but a gaping void? And thus I swear, forever more shall I be loveless, as that which allowed me to love hast been taken! And I shall find he who has done so, even if it must be a journey of my own making!"

Having said that, 'Elizabeth' picket up a dagger and stabbed herself in the chest, her corpse falling over her departed lover in a facsimile of a lover's embrace, before the spotlight shut off, and the curtains fell.

"WOOOOO!"

"YEAH!"

"AMAZING!"

Exclamations of admiration and enjoyment joined a bevy of whistles and an outpouring of claps as the entire audience expressed their appreciation of the play.

The lights turned back on as the curtains rose, revealing the entirety of the drama club, from the actresses, to the set makers, the audiovisual crew, and the costumes department. In the center of all of these girls was a greenette wearing a purple beret, who proceeded to take a bow.

The curtains fell again, this time for good, prompting the watchers to go out and enjoy the rest of the event, leaving behind only Aika and Issei.

"Hey Ise, I wanna go congratulate the crew directly for their work, is that alright with you?"

"You're choosing our destinations today, my Ai-chan, I'm just following after you."

The girl blushed prettily at the affectionate address, before standing up and tugging on Issei's hand, pulling him towards a door which she believed to lead to the backstage area.

 ** _ _ **KNOCK KNOCK**__**

" _ _Come in!__ "

Aika didn't hesitate to go into the backstage proper and pull Issei in with her, smiling lightly towards the group of girls as she spoke.

"Hello, I'm Aika and this is my boyfriend Issei, we just wanted to congratulate you on such a great play! I didn't even notice the time passing!"

"HA HA HA!" The greenette in a beret laughed boisterously, "As my best written and directed work until now, there was no way that we could fail! But this is only the beginning of my tale! I, Honki Karin, will one day become the best playwright slash director in history!"

Issei and Aika easily looked past the girl's eccentricity, with Issei speaking up.

"I was particularly impressed with the person that was playing Sebastian." The brunet looked towards said person, a girl with brown, waist-length hair, breasts that were somewhere around the C-cup range, and an overall very feminine body. "Looking at her now I can see a beautiful girl, but back during the play, whenever she was on stage, it was as if I was unable to see this, and instead I saw only Sebastian. It was very impressive."

The girl smiled and bowed politely towards Issei.

"Thank you for the compliment, Issei-san, even though I don't feel I truly deserve all of this praise."

"Are you kidding me? You __do__ deserve the praise! That was an amazing performance, and you are quite obviously a very talented young woman!"

The girl blushed lightly at that, her demeanor showing only humility as she spoke.

"I-it's really nothing, Issei-san! I don't have much talent, really, it's just training! Anyone can do it!"

"Pfft, stop downplaying yourself, Shiina." Karin said with a wave of her hand, "Even with The Method, it's not everyone that can bring a character to life in the same way that you are capable of!"

" 'The Method' ?" Issei spoke up, "It must be a helluva method, based on the results."

"Yeah," Aika said with a smirk, "I could almost hear the capital letters when she said it. 'The Method' !"

"The Method is a funny thing," Karin explained, "It is very simple in concept, but extremely difficult in execution.

"The Method is simply bringing the character you are playing to life. Rather than simply 'acting' as if you were a certain character, you change your mindset altogether. For as long as you're on the stage, in front of the audience, you __become__ the character.

"Your words are their words, your mannerisms are their mannerisms, and your actions are their actions. You fully embody an individual distinct from yourself, let them come to life on their own.

"As I said before, it is very simple in concept, but it is not something that just any person is capable of accomplishing. You need to get into a really focused head space in order to do it successfully.

"Shiina here is one of the people who have cultivated that ability, and has been doing so ever since we were back in middle school.

"If I am to become the best Playwright slash director in the world, then Shiina will definitely become the world's best and most famous actress! Now if you'll excuse us, it's about time we started changing out of these costumes."

After a few polite words of farewell, Issei and Aika left the auditorium altogether, going back to the main area of the festival.

"Where do you wanna go now, Ai-chan?"

AIka was unable to keep herself from blushing again, but she pushed past that and simply directed Issei towards an area filled with game stands.

"Ooh, let's go over there!"

Issei's line of sight followed the direction Aika was pointing towards, which led them towards a booth that had a series of toy guns lined up on the counter, with a series of targets sitting across them.

"I've loved these ever since I was smaller!" Aika said, "Whenever we go to a festival, I always search for one of these. They game itself is pretty fun, and they usually have great prizes!"

Issei smiled at the visible childish excitement on Aika's face, though his smile did twitch a bit when she pulled out a thick wad of bills and slammed it on the counter top, startling the booth runner a great deal. The surprise soon faded into such visible greed that the man was almost salivating at the sight of the money.

He handed one of the cork guns to Aika before speaking up.

"This game is very simple, miss! You just need to-"

"Hit the targets with the cork, yes, I know!"

Having said that, Aika placed the butt of the gun against her shoulder and lined up her shot.

'Hehe, little does she know that the iron sights on the gun are purposefully misaligned! She won't be hitting a thing, and I'll get to keep her mon-"

The man's internal monologue was interrupted when a cork flew right by his cheek and smacked into a pack of pocky at an angle. This made it so that instead of falling over, as would usually happen, the prize instead flew straight towards Aika, who snatched it out of the air.

The booth runner had frozen in place, while Issei turned a surprised glance towards Aika, prompting her to rest the rifle on her shoulder as she spoke, a proud smirk on her face.

"I've been playing this game for over three years now, so I've picked up a few tricks. For example, I know that in order to make this game almost impossible to win, there's always some sort of trick to it. Either the prizes are weighed so that they don't fall over even when hit, or the pressure of the rifle itself is lowered so that the cork shoots off slower, or a myriad of other possible tricks.

"In this case, the trick is actually pretty harmless. The rifle's sight is a few degrees off. This makes it so that you almost can't notice it when you first shoot, or for shorter-ranged shots, but on the longer range ones, the cork will ultimately always stray away from target."

"Really now?" Issei said while fixing the booth runner with a look that had him shaking in place. Despite the dangerous look he was giving the man, his tone of voice was still perfectly conversational. "You really are good at it, if you can notice this sort of stuff, and hit your target despite it."

"Yeah, it's something I'm pretty proud of, to be honest." Aika stopped talking for a moment and shot three times, each of the shots successfully knocking down one of the booth's rewards, and causing the runner to grimace further and further, "The tricks of these games are something that I figured out through experience with many different booths, but the shooting itself... Well, it's just something that comes to me innately. I'm pretty good at hitting stuff with other stuff at long range."

To make her point, Aika shot a cork at a box of pencil ornaments, causing it to bounce up into the air, before releasing a very quick follow up shot, the cork hitting the box at just the right angle that caused the box to fly straight at Issei, while the second cork itself changed directions and struck another one of the prizes, causing it to fall over forward.

Issei reflexively snatched the box out of the air before it could hit him on the forehead, raising an eyebrow towards a smirking Aika.

"Well, you've seen enough of me shooting, and I don't want to bankrupt this guy, so I guess you get to go as well."

She handed the rifle over to Issei, who looked it up and down before speaking up.

"I've never played this game before, so I'd probably miss even if the sights were properly aligned."

"Oh come on, just try it! What's the wrost that could happen?"

Spurred on by his girlfriend, Issei shrugged before pointing the rifle in the general direction of the prize wall with a single hand, not even bothering to try to properly align his shot before he pulled the trigger.

The cork flew out of the rifle in a direction completely unrelated to the prizes, something which had the booth runner smiling up... Up until it ricocheted.

The cork hit a wooden chair at an angle before ricocheting away, slamming into a counter top, before flying off in a different direction. It flew towards the ground, which had a bunch of other corks lying there, and bounced off of it, simultaneously causing the other corks to start bouncing around.

Each bounce of a cork caused Aika's eyes to shine brighter with excitement, while the eyes of the man running the booth showed greater and greater incredulity.

The many corks bounced around the inside of the booth, before they all ricocheted in a way that sent them all in the same direction, towards the biggest, heaviest box of the prize wall, causing it to fall over, and knock down a few dozen other boxes with it.

The booth owner wasn't the only one shooting Issei an incredulous gaze, as many of the other festival goers, especially the lower aged middle school kids, stared at the man as if he had just put on a blue and red suit with the underwear on the outside and started flying.

Issei blinked owlishly, putting the cork gun down before turning towards Aika while scratching the back of his head and laughing sheepishly.

"It seems I got pretty lucky there, no?"

"It would seem so, yes," She responded with an utterly amused smile, "In a totally unrelated topic, have you ever tried to play the lottery?"

"Take it!"

Any response Issei could have given Aika was interrupted when the booth owner pushed the many boxes that had fallen down after his shot into his arms, his tone pleading as he spoke.

"Take it all, but please, never come back! If the two of you ever find me working a booth anywhere, just stay away from me, please!"

Having said that, the man curled up on the floor and cried, something which left both Issei and Aika feeling quite awkward.

The two of them slowly inched away from the booth, before walking off at a brisk pace. As they walked, Issei kept tossing the prizes at random children they ran across. At Aika's questioning look, he shrugged before speaking up.

"I got a lot of candy, snacks, ornaments and other stuff that I don't need or want, and I see kids that do enjoy that sort of stuff, so... Why not give it to them?"

Aika responded to that statement by pulling Issei into a steaming kiss that had some people hooting and hollering, while some parents and elder siblings were forced to cover the eyes of the children they were with.

As soon as the kiss was broken, Aika gave Issei a radiant smile as she spoke.

"You have no idea just how much I want to fuck you right now."

Issei blinked owlishly, before answering.

"Well, we could make it happen a bit later..."

Aika's smile turned a bit forced as she responded.

"Today's actually not a good day for me... You see, my parents are back from a business trip, and they like to force me and my older sister to spend time with them, almost as if we were a family."

Issei responded to this by wrapping his arm around Aika's shoulders and pulling her into his body. "No problem with that at all, my Ai-chan. We can save that for some other occasion. And if you ever want to talk to someone about this, feel free to come to me."

Aika's forced smile turned back into a soft, genuine thing as she burrowed into her man's side, luxuriating in the soothing and protective warmth he emanated.

"I don't want to ruin our day, so let's just move on from that subject, alright?"

Issei smiled light at Aika, his tone teasing as he spoke, "You're the boss!"

"Yes. Yes, I am." The girl smirked at Issei, before her gaze turned towards the big box, which had been the biggest prize back in that booth, "What is that, by the way? The majority of the prizes were either snacks or small things like pencil ornaments and phone straps. That box doesn't seem like it follows that theme."

When Aika said that, Issei's own curiosity was stoked. He started looking all over the box, only to feel a mild sense of frustration at the fact the fact that said box had many scratches and scuffs, rendering the lettering on the outside almost all but illegible.

"Hey! Ise! Aika! Over here!"

The two turned towards the voice that had called out to them, only to meet the sight of Lilith cheerfully waving at them.

The two headed towards the purplette, only for the two sets of eyes to widen in surprise at Lilith's manner of dress.

"Lilith..." Issei spoke up, "Why are you wearing a Yukata?"

"Well, I went into the internet to research what types of clothes should be worn to japanese festivals, and this is what came up, so I decided to come in a Yukata."

"..."

"..."

Issei and Aika stared at Lilith, before Issei spoke up.

"You __do__ know that the Yukata is a summer outfit, right? We are currently in fall, and some day started getting a bit windy already. I distinctly remember having to smother you in my bear pelt coat because you were shivering to the bone."

Aika turned towards Issei, curiosity visible in her eyes as she spoke.

"You have a bear pelt coat?"

"I got it from a cabin in the mountains, but it's nothing important really. What's important is the fact that Lilith __wore a yukata to a school festival in autumn__."

Aika turned her focus towards Lilith, noticing the fact that she was actually shaking in place.

Issei sighed at that, taking off his blazer and draping it over Lilith's shoulders, leaving on only his tight white shirt with the rolled up sleeves on, something which instantly drew the attention of quite a few middle and high school girls.

The thing that drew the attention of the boys was the fact that Lilith pulled Issei down into a kiss that many could swear was intense enough to stop a weaker person's heart... And then Aika did the exact same thing to him, before each of the girls wrapped one of Issei's arms around themselves and snuggled into his body, enjoying his body heat.

They went around the festival anew, this time avoiding the precision-based games, with Lilith dragging the other two to more than five different fish scooping booths, and being unable to successfully scoop up as much as a single fish.

They kept moving amongst the booths and having fun, before Lilith dragged Issei and Aika towards a booth full of various different masks.

Lilith pointed at one of the masks and spoke up.

"That one looks like a pretty bird!"

Aika pointed at another one and sniggered.

"The nose on that Tengu mask looks like a penis."

This had the three teens sniggering like middle-school aged children, until Issei dropped his box, something that drew Lilith's eyes.

The succubus picked up the box, before speaking up.

"What's this?"

"Issei got __really__ lucky at one of the booths," Aika said with a smirk of remembrance, "And he ended up getting that as a prize. We have no idea what's inside though, as the text on the box is pretty scratched out, and there are no images."

"Why didn't you just open it?"

Issei was the one to answer that question.

"I have no idea what's inside. It could be something completely impractical to carry around, so I'm just moving along with the box."

Lilith raised an eyebrow at them, before speaking in as obvious a tone as there could ever be.

"Didn't it occur to you that you could have simply popped open a corner of the box and peeked in, instead of taking the whole thing out?"

Issei and Aika met each other's gaze, before the two of them turned towards Lillith, shrugging as they simultaneously spoke.

"We forgot."

"We forgot."

Lillith facepalmed at that, before grabbing one of the tabs of the cardboard box and tugging on it lightly. Rather than seeing whatever prize was inside the box directly, they ended up being greeted by a paper booklet that Lilith passed over to Issei.

The brunet read the title on the cover in a noticeably confused tone of voice.

"Cosplay for dummies?"

He opened the booklet, skimming through the contents until they reached a page that had a photograph of the costume within the box.

"This is..."

Issei blinked owlishly at the picture of a set of long white robes, with a fierce-looking red eastern dragon embroidered onto it, with it's tail on the back end of the robe, coinciding with the robe's hem, while it's body was spread along the rest of the robe and the head resting over the right shoulder, making it seem as if the fierce dragon had coiled itself around the wearer of the robe, though whether it was an aggressive or protective thing wasn't clear.

That wasn't the only part of the outfit, though, as when Issei flipped another page over, the picture of a light grey shaolin uniform was visible, alongside a pair of kung fu shoes.

"Hey, I saw a mask that would look great with that! Just, give me a second!"

Having said that, Lilith walked up to the mask booth and started having an intense conversation with the salesman, before waving Issei and Aika over.

"I saw this mask when the booth was being set up, but the guy running the booth had to take it down since it took up a lot of space that other, easier to sell masks could be occupying. Come on over and look!"

Issei and Aika arrived at Lilith's location in time to watch her open the wooden trunk at the back of the booth, and reach into it, only to pull out something that could be said to be more of a helmet than a mask.

It was a white mask depicting an eastern dragon's head, big enough to cover the entirety of Issei's face. The eyes were mirrored glass, so that the wearer can see out of the mask, but none could see into it.

The mask had what looked like scale-shaped patterns drawn on it, and two stubs on the forehead section.

Taking notice of all of this, Issei spoke up.

"This seems... Incomplete."

"That is because it __is__ incomplete."

Issei, Lilith and Aika jumped at the voice that suddenly came from behind them.

They turned towards the source of the voice, only to see a figure that was clad in so much fabric that it was impossible to see an inch of skin on his body, something which paired with the Noh mask the figure was wearing made it look very creepy.

"I feel that if I finish that mask, it may be my best work to date, however, I did not know how to do so... Until now."

The masked man pointed at Issei, revealing the fact that he was even wearing a thick pair of gloves, before speaking up.

"You, young man, have inspired me to finish the work on this mask! However... Those two girls you are with must leave."

Issei bristled at the masked man's words, but the masked man spoke up before Issei could say a thing.

"Mask crafting is an art that has been in my family for a while. My family's patriarch was the first one to pick the craft, and I am still doing so today. To me, mask crafting is more than just the process of making something you cover your face with.

"The crafting of my masks is something private. I draw the inspiration for a mask's finish from the truest self within a person's heart. Something so private is not meant to be seen by others until the process is already completed and the owner of the mask itself allows it to be seen by others.

"Even if you young ones, so skeptical as the modern world has made you, don't believe in this old man's 'mumbo jumbo', just think of it as a family legacy thing."

Lilith and Aika looked at Issei, who was noticeably tense as he stared at the mask salesman, until Issei spoke.

"You can go on, I'll catch up with you when I'm done."

Aika stretched out a hand towards Issei's shoulder only for a shake of the head from Lilith to dissuade her from doing so. The two girls proceeded to leave the mask-selling booth, neither of them noticing the fact that the drapes closed on their own after they had left.

Issei, however, had noticed it, as well as the fact that all of the noise from the festival seemed to have suddenly been muted.

The brunet tapped into his power before speaking up, his voice conveying his powerful **__**Pressure**__**.

" ** _ _ **Who are you and what are you doing here?**__** "

The masked man paused for a single moment, before he picked up the unfinished dragon mask and looked it over from side to side, his lack of response causing the tension in the room to rise further and further. Before Issei could take any further action, the man spoke.

"For a young man such as yourself to possess such powerful **__**Killing Intent**__**... Isn't that a bit scary?"

" ** _ _ **Don't fuck with me! If you don't give me a satisfying answer I'll-**__** "

"Calm down, boy, or you'll out yourself to those devil girls from your school."

Issei's eyes widened at those words, before his pressure abated completely. Despite this, the look in his eye was several times more dangerous, as was his tone, as he spoke.

" _ _Answer my fucking questions or else.__ "

The masked man nodded, his tone light as he spoke.

"I guess the answer to these questions is very much simple... What am I doing here? I'm selling masks. As for who I am... I am me. But don't worry about not knowing the answer to that question, that is one that may sound very simple, but the answer is ultimately different. After all, if two people answer with 'I am me', how can they have the same answer if 'me' ultimately refers to completely different individuals?

"Now tell me, Hyoudou Issei, wielder of the Longinus ****Boosted Gear****... Who are you?"

Issei's eyes narrowed at the man's words. His left hand twitched lightly, before the man spoke up again.

"It's alright if you cannot answer the question right at this moment. That is a question that many people twice or three times your age are no closer to answering than you are. Now, I know that your curiosity and your murderous intent are competing, and that is likely the only reason why you haven't attacked me yet, so I'll stop asking you uncomfortable questions and jump straight to doing my craft."

The man placed the unfinished mask on the ground in front of Issei, before taking an elaborate dagger from the trunk the mask was in and handing it to Issei.

"Prick your finger and allow your blood to fall on whichever part of the mask you want."

"How do I know you're not trying to kill me, or something like that?"

"Because you are currently working with my faction to fight against a common enemy of ours. You were in need of a mask, so a mask came to meet you. Will you be refusing it?"

Issei picked up the dagger, silently looking it over for a while, before speaking up.

"Were you the one responsible for me getting that martial arts costume as well?"

"...No, that part was just your own sheer dumb luck. Surprised me as much as it did you."

Making a decision, Issei brought the tip of the dagger to within an inch of his fingertip, before speaking.

"I hope you're on the up and up, because if I find out you're tricking me, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and wipe you out of existence."

Having said that, Issei pricked his finger with the tip of the dagger before placing said finger on the ridged brow of the dragon mask and sliding it down towards the tip of the snout.

The masked man retrieved both the dagger and the mask, placing them both back within the trunk, before speaking.

"Your mask will be there when it is needed. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to work my craft, and I don't like doing so in view of others, so kindly vacate the premises."

Issei left the booth and rejoined both of his girlfriends, waving off their worries as he directed them back to the festival at large, enjoying the food and the entertainment. Soon enough they had met up with Motohama and Matsuda, though Akeno was presumably still with her club. They went around the festival as a group, having fun and joking around, before Motohama eventually spoke up.

"Wait wait wait, so you're telling me that Lilith put on a Yukata, during __autumn__ , for a __school festival__ because __the internet told her to__?"

"Hey!" The purplette spoke with an embarrassed blush, "It's an honest mistake! Any foreigner could have made the same mistake as I have!"

Smirking lightly, Issei spoke in a teasing tone.

"I don't really think anyone is that naive, Lil."

* * *

 ** _ _ **-ELSEWHERE-**__**

" ** _ _ **Achoo!**__** "

"See, buchou," Akeno spoke up in an amused tone, "This is what happens when you wear a Yukata in autumn."

Riash wiped her nose with a handkerchief before responding to Akeno's teasing in a whining tone.

"But my research told me that people wore Yukata to japanese festivals!"

"Anime doesn't count as research, Buchou, and Yukata are worn at __summer__ festivals."

"Well," Rias said after blowing her nose, "I know that __now.__ "

 ** _ _ **Crunch Crunch Crunch**__**

Akeno, Rias, and Yuuto, who had been silently watching the proceedings while definitely not zoning off and fantasizing with the utter atomization of all Excalibur swords, turned towards the source of the crunching sounds, which was Koneko with a packet of chocolate pocky in her hands.

"Hello Koneko-chan," Rias spoke to her rook with a tender smile, "Did you have fun with the festival?"

The white-haired girl nodded silently in answer of Rias' question, before stuffing her face with more pocky.

"Koneko-chan..."

The cat girl looked towards her Buchou, prompting the redhead to speak.

"Where did you get that Pocky? I searched all over this festival for some, but the only box I could see was in a stall with this stupid gun game that's impossible to win."

The nekoshou thought back to the moment where the very same person that she had been tasked with looking over, the one that her Buchou constantly compared to an absolute jerk, generously gave out all of the sweets and snacks he had won at that same stall out of sheer dumb luck.

"Around."

She then promptly decided that it was better to keep this whole thing a secret from her already aggravated buchou, and just kept eating her pocky.

* * *

 ** _ _ **-BACK WITH ISSEI-**__**

"Well... As much as I'd love to spend more time all of you, it's about time for me head home. Got some laundry to take care of, then gotta work on my Modern Literature homework... Just annoyances."

After kissing his girlfriends goodbye and saying his farewells to his bros, Issei headed straight for home, all the while asking himself whether or not he made a mistake when dealing with the mask salesman.

Two days later, Issei got home from school only to find a wooden trunk on his dinner table, with a piece of paper taped to the front of it.

He tugged the note free from the trunk, silently reading it's contents.

'Issei, I promised to have your mask delivered on time. I don't break promises.'

Issei opened the trunk with a mix of caution and trepidation, only for the sight that met him to cause him to reach a certain conclusion:

"It's time for me to become the character."

 ** _ _ **-Chapter, End-**__**


	32. Taking the Bull by the Horns

****Oh yeah, it's that time of the *Insert time measurement unit here*.****

 ** **Been a hot minute since I last updated, so that's what I'll be doing!...****

 ** **After thanking the story's sponsors of course! A great and massive thank you to Joshua G., Shen, FromTheDeep and Tyric Gaia for supporting this work!****

 ** **If you'd like to join the ranks of legends like them, you can do so by going to " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz " and giving me a tip! As always, it is not mandatory, and simply the fact that you're reading and enjoying the story is great enough, but every bit of help is appreciated!****

 ** **Piece of warning, this chapter will be involving some pretty explicit body horror. Be aware.****

 ** **Now, let us begin.****

* * *

"Regular character speech"

" _ _Differently inflectioned character speech__ " (Whispering, hissing, etc)

" ** **Powerful character speech**** " (Backed by killing intent, presence, sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _ _Mind reading/Telepathic conversation__ '

 ** **[Ddraig speaking out loud]****

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei**__** ** **]****

' ** **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking**** '

* * *

Aika rode the golf cart her butler Kinben was driving in silence, her gaze seemingly leagues away and a tiny smile on her face as she thought back to the fun she had at the festival with Issei and Lilith, before the knowledge of her upcoming 'family time' came back to the forefront of her mind, causing her smile to turn into a deep frown, something that Kinben caught on the rear view mirror.

"Young lady Kiryuu, is this ride making you uncomfortable in any way? If it is, I will endeavour to ensure-"

"Don't worry, Kinben," Aika said with a small smile, "The ride is impeccable, as always."

"Then whatever could it be that has you frowning so, young lady Kiryuu? Are you being bothered by someone? Because I would not mind going out and teaching them a lesson, if need be."

Aika chuckled lightly at her butler's protective streak, patting his shoulder as she answered.

"It's not that, Kinben, don't worry! It's just..." Her previously returned smile faded again, her brows furrowing more and more as she spoke. "Dealing with my parents... It's not easy..."

The two elapsed back into silence after that, the only sound around being that of the golf cart's wheels gliding along a wide paved path. It halted with a mild screech of rubber on stone, allowing Aika to hop off of it and stretch, before turning towards the doors of her home.

"Young lady Kiryuu."

Aika's hand stopped on the doorknob as she looked back towards Kinben, who adjusted his glasses before speaking.

"Sir and Lady Kiryuu... They may not often be present, but they care for you future, miss."

Aika sighed before turning back and making her way into her house, something which didn't really tell Kinben anything in regards to her frame of mind at the moment. Having delivered young lady Kiryuu, Kinben returned to his task of fulfilling the other tasks a butler of his caliber was expected to.

Ignoring the click of the door closing behind her, Aika took off her shoes before calling out.

"I'm home!"

Changing into her indoor slippers was no task at all, and soon enough she was making her way towards her room, all the while cursing internally.

'I know that big homes are a meant to be great displays of class, pedigree, wealth and all that jazz, and I won't pretend that I don't appreciate all the extra space, but... It's a freaking pain in the butt to have to walk for 15 to 20 minutes between my bedroom and the main entrance!'

So lost in her thoughts, Aika almost missed the voice that called out to her.

"In here, Aika, darling."

Almost was the effective word. By the time she had broken out of her distracted fugue and processed the message, her feet had already carried her over towards the source of the voice, the sitting room.

Entering the sitting room, Aika saw three people seated around a table bearing a kettle, a jar of tea leaves and cups, as well as various sweets and salty snacks, both western and japanese.

The first person she laid eyes on was a college-aged girl with the same general hair color as her own, though unlike her slightly messy hair that was done up in a pair of pigtails reaching right around the chest region in length, the older girl wore her tidy and noticeably well-groomed butt-length hair loose. The older girl's body was more well developed than Aika's, bearing a pair of high C-cup breasts and hips that, especially in comparison to the average slender japanese woman, were noticeably shapely. Her face was slightly longer, with the rest of her facial features easily allowing her to be considered a beauty, especially his golden eyes, just a shade darker than Aika's.

She was Aika's older sister, Kiryuu Mira.

Aika had a moment to take in her apologetic smile, before the same voice as before spoke.

"It is good to finally see you after such a long time, darling! We wouldn't even know to wait for you here were it not for your sister telling us of this school activity of yours."

Aika shot Mira a quick glare, a glare that Mira sheepishly turned away to avoid, before allowing her focus to fall back on the speaker.

Standing at 5'8" - __5'6" without heels__ \- tall, possessing auburn-colored hair carefully cut and styled into a straight neck-length bob that could easily be pictured in a top businesswoman, narrow and upturned amber-colored eyes, slightly down-turned lips with a healthy dose of sensibly-applied lipstick, a small nose, a pair of D-cup breasts and a thin waist and wide hips, this woman was beautiful, in a cold and businesslike way, something accentuated by her black skirt suit and pantyhose combo. Her name was Kiryuu Hokkyoku, and most wouldn't hesitate to - __behind her back, of course__ \- call her an absolute MILF.

Aika simply called her mother.

Before Aika could formulate an answer, a second voice piped in.

"Had we known of this event beforehand, we would've gone and picked you up on our own."

The speaker this time was a man. Standing at 5'9", with slick hair parted to one side, wearing a noticeably expensive suit and leather shoes. His narrow eyes were light brown in color, his nose somewhat was long, though not so to an unpleasant degree, and his lips were very thin. His shoulders weren't particularly wide, yet one couldn't help but feel as if he exuded the air of someone that simply filled any room her was in.

He was Kiryuu Yohei, Aika's father.

Aika suppressed any lingering irritation towards her parents, her tone convincingly inviting as she spoke.

"Hello mother, father. It is such a surprise to see you here. Present."

"Surprise?" Yohei spoke in genuine puzzlement. "We had made it known ahead of time that we would be home around this time period."

"Well..." Aika's voice was as sickly-sweet as she answered, "After every other time when you promised to be there and ended up cancelling, I have come to expect it."

Yohei and Mira cringed at that, while Hokkyoku spoke in a tone so light and relaxed that it had to have seen extensive practice.

"Don't worry, Aika darling, we're here now."

"Yes, __now.__ "

The different emphasis Aika put into the word was nowhere near subtle, but then again, she wasn't __trying__ to be.

Eager to move beyond this conversation filled with verbal landmines, Yohei cut off both his wife and youngest daughter, his tone showing interest as he spoke.

"So, Aika, darling, tell us a bit about this event you've come from?"

Sighing, Aika took a seat on the sofa, accepting a teacup from one of the home's various maids and leaning back into her seat, something which drew a reproachful look from her mother that she reacted to with a roll of her eyes, and taking a sip of the hot tea before speaking up.

"A new school has opened here in town, and as a celebration, they opened their doors to various people, primarily students and staff from the few other schools around, including Kuoh's various levels of education, meaning that myself and everyone else from my school got the option of going."

"And what about the festival itself?"

"It had many things, including games and vendor booths. It was as if a summer festival took a wrong turn in the calendar and landed here and now."

The semi-sarcastic toned joke at the end of the sentence gave Yohei the hope that Aika was opening up just the slightest bit, something that motivated him to get her to keep talking.

"And what about you, specifically? What sorts of things did you do there, and what did you think of the festival?"

"Well, a friend of mine studies at that academy," Aika started, "So my friends and I knew about what the event would be before it was actually announced to our school. We only knew we weren't going to be watching class before, not that we'd be going to a festival. We split up as soon as we got there."

A small, yet sincere smile made itself visible on Aika's lips as she spoke.

"The others split up, but Ise and I stuck together, and we ended up watching a genuinely great play from their very talented drama club. Then, we went to a few shooting booths. I figured out the trick and was winning pretty easily, but Ise just needed one bit of good luck to get the biggest prize!

"After that we met up with Lilith, my friend that actually studies at that other school, and we went around a few other booths and had fun."

Hokkyoku spoke up this time, seizing an opportunity to try to get closer to Aika.

"Wow, the way you talk about her, this Ise girl must be really good friends with you, huh?"

Aika blinked, not having realized the fact that her family had misunderstood things, and acted with the intent to correct this.

"Err... Ise isn't a girl."

It was Aika's parents' turn to blink slowly, their minds working to push away the confusion they felt, before Yohei spoke up.

"Really? But, what you said implied that this Ise person studied with you..."

"That's because he does. Kuoh dropped the all-girls label."

"What?"

While Yohei's reaction was pure surprise, Hokkyoku's was surprise mixed with a heavy dose of irritation as she spoke.

"What were they thinking? They can't simply make such a big change and say nothing to the parents of the students!"

Aika's face twisted into visible annoyance, her tone cold as she spoke.

"They sent packets with us at the end of the previous school year talking about these changes, and I recall handing one of them to each of you."

Yohei cringed again, while Hokkyoku seemed unconcerned with Aika's mood, simply speaking in a decisive tone.

"That's no longer important. What's important now is that we'll have to take the time to find you a new, __proper__ school."

"And __what__ exactly is wrong with Kuoh?"

While Yohei and Mira easily identified the sort of verbal mine that had just been set and intended to steer far clear of it, Hokkyoku seemed to be either oblivious or uncaring of it as she answered.

"It's __co-ed__. Allowing boys and girls to mingle during the time period where their hormones are at their most intense and active is a great mistake, as it leads to mutual distractions, and possible other issues. It's only proper for you to go to an all-girls school."

"I'm not changing schools!"

"And why ever would you not?"

"Because I've studied at Kuoh for years, and that's where I made many friends, and met my boyfriend!"

The word boyfriend caused the Yohei to freeze and Mira's eyes to widen to the extreme, while Hokkyoku's narrowed dangerously.

"W-wha-" Yohei choked out, "What was that about a b-b-boyfriend?"

Before Aika could respond, Hokkyoku spoke up, her words directed towards her husband.

"Dear, if you could call Kuoh's headmaster and cancel Aika's enrolment, we could-"

"See, this is exactly what I hate about you guys!"

Aika's shouted words had the three other Kiryuu family members staring at her in shock, as they hadn't ever seen her lose her cool before. Uncaring of their shock, Aika continued.

"Not only are you guys so absent that I can't even count on your presence when you __promise__ you'll be there, you are either so absentminded or so __negligent__ that you never even read the information packets I had given you! And now, after being absent for the overwhelming majority of my life, you decide to just butt in and, uncaring of my own thoughts, feelings and opinions, start making choices for me?  
"No! I'm not just going to take it!"

Aika stormed off after those words, her angry stomps still being heard in the sitting room for quite a while after she had left.

The three older members of the Kiryuu family sat there in a frozen silence for a while, before Mira muttered under her breath.

" _ _So it__ was __a boyfriend...__ "

Her muttered words drew the questioning gazes of both her parents, prompting her to elaborate.

"For the last few weeks I've noticed some changes in Aika's behavior. She's been going out really early in the mornings and coming back tired and sweaty, her mood has been noticeably better, and she's been spending more time out after classes, rather than coming straight home and locking herself into her room almost every day."

Yohei's eyes widened at Mira's words, his tone terrified as he spoke.

"Have there been any other changes?"

"Well," Mira begun, "Her grades have been higher than ever before, she seems to be fitter than ever before, easily walking around the manor and going up and down stairs without as much as getting winded, she's even started humming whenever she's distracted."

"We need to have her removed from Kuoh."

Hokkyoku's words got the attention of Mira and Yohei both.

"Aside from the fact that something like this can very easily lead to distractions that could lead to extremely lower grades, there's also the fact that this __boyfriend__ of Aika's may very well be simply trying to use her, and might wind up hurting her. For Kami's sake, if things keep going this way she may end up pregnant!"

Those words shook Yohei almost as much as a punch from a professional heavyweight boxer could have, and he felt the desire to simply agree with his wife and transferring Aika trying to completely fill his mind, yet he pushed it back with willpower and self-control tempered by many years of business, negotiations, and boardroom meetings, turning towards Mira and asking calmly:

"What do __you__ think about it?"

Mira blinked in surprise, while Hokkyoku stared at Yohei in shock, having expected him to instantly back her position up. Yohei, noticing Hokkyoku's gaze on his person, pre-empted her question.

"This is a situation that we have to handle very carefully, wife of mine. Our bond with Aika... It is nowhere near as strong as it could be. If we simply go ahead with this idea of yours we could deal irreparable damage to whichever strained bond we still have, and alienate our daughter from us completely. Rather than acting blindly and allowing ourselves to be guided by knee-jerk reactions, it's best if we hear from the person closest to Aika in both age and bond, before we attempt to figure out a proper solution." Yohei turned back towards an utterly surprised Mira. "So, Mira, what do you think we should take into consideration before acting?"

Mira rubbed her chin thoughtfully, before speaking up.

"Well... First we need to look at mom's list of concerns. Her first concern was for Aika's grades, but as I've already said, she's been performing much better than at any other time, so that's one concern down for now. As for whether her boyfriend is simply trying to hurt her or not, well, we can't just accuse him of doing so for no reason.

"Other than being a short-sighted thing to do, judging someone we don't even know for actions that are simply presumed, it also tells Aika that we don't trust her or her judgement, which is very, very bad. You take the wrong move and you'll stick a wedge between yourselves and her for the rest of our collective lives."

Having heard those words and calmed down somewhat, Hokkyoku spoke up.

"I guess I can understand your points. That means that the best thing we can do is try to meet this boy, no?"

"We can invite him, yes," Yohei spoke, "but not right now. We need to let Aika calm down, lest she things we're trying to gang up on or intimidate her... __Boyfriend__. For now I say we ignore this... Situation... and stop pressuring Aika. Instead, we try to get to know her better, and get a measure of her sense of judgement and discernment. When Aika feels comfortable and secure enough for it, we can invite her boyfriend over. What do you say?"

Sighing out loud, Hokkyoku nodded in agreement.

The Kiryuu family had a plan.

* * *

Unlike her parents, Mira knew Aika well, so she knew that her father's solution wouldn't work. Aika was smart, so she knew that the primary sticking point for her parents would be her boyfriend. That meant that no matter what else was said and done, until this 'boyfriend panic' was settled, she would be unwilling to open up to their parents. The fastest way to resolve this would be the boy.

However, Mira knew that her parent's weren't ready nor willing to hear this. The plan that they made was more likely intended to serve as a limiter for themselves, to keep from acting rashly, rather than a proper solution for the situation, but it was the best they had, and they would grab onto that solution and use it as their rock in the middle of a storm.

That meant that Mira herself would have to intervene.

A pair of knocks to Aika's bedroom door was responded to with a ' _ _GO AWAY!__ '. Ignoring this, Mira spoke soothingly.

"Aika, it's me, Mira. May I come in, please?"

Silence held between the two for a while, before Aika softly answered.

"Enter."

Mira didn't dawdle, going into Aika's bedroom and eyeing it with great surprise.

'The last time I was in here, this place was full of posters of half-nude men in suggestive poses. Now..."

Mira's eyes moved straight towards Aika's desk, where a small hardcover book rested. She was reaching out for said book, only for it to get snatched out of her reach by Aika's much too swift hands.

Mira raised her hands at the tiny glare sent her way, one without any real heat in it, before making her way to Aika's bed and sitting down right next to her younger sister.

"So, how are you feeling?"

Aika scoffed before answering.

"Disappointed. Angry. Sad. Pretty much the whole gamut of feelings I've already felt towards them before. I mean, they show up whenever they want, trying to act as if they never left in the first place, and want to run my whole life? What gives them the right?"

Sighing lightly, Mira wrapped an arm around Aika's shoulders and pulled her closer before speaking in a soothing tone.

"They're __your parents__ , Aika. __Our__ parents. Sure, they could have, and certainly should have been around much more often, I won't pretend that their absence was completely alright, but they didn't just abandon us or throw us to the wolves. They've been working as hard as they can to make sure that the both of us have our lives __and__ futures secured.

"Part of this desire to 'secure your future' is a fear of boyfriends. Boyfriends are a whole new frontier, they are people who have a tendency to awaken new emotions and behaviours in us, just like us women do for the men, and cause us to change, be this change positive or negative.

"For the people who barely managed to get to know you from a child and that are already feeling guilty over it and trying to make it up to you, how terrifying must it be to see that their child is reaching the next level of their development, and turning into someone possible fully different from who they were?

"Our parents are afraid, Aika. They're afraid that your boyfriend will lead you to change so much that they can't even recognize you, and they're afraid of the idea of never really connecting with you. So please, give them a chance."

Mira's words left Aika thinking for a while, before answering.

"What do you think I can do to end all of this?"

"Bring your boyfriend over. Let our parents get to know him, to see if he's a good person or a bad person, and all that. Introducing them, as awkward as it may sound - __and likely be__ \- is the best way to get mom and dad to give you more space."

Having said that, Mira pulled her sister into another one-sided hug before leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Aika stared at her phone, her desire to call Issei and invite him over warring with her fear of her parents embarrassing her. She spent the rest of the night staring at her phone.

* * *

Shanmai Xu walked amongst the crowds of japanese civilians with a sneer on his face. Weakness was the thing he loathed above all others, followed up shortly by ignorance, and all of these fools possessed both of these traits.

Back in his homeland, the people knew to be respectful and reverent towards him, both because of the fact that he was part of the Shanmai family, and because they were aware of his achievements in the art.

Here, everybody looked at him as if he were just any other person in the street, and it was infuriating!

He would have already carved his name into the collective consciousness of the town were it not for the fact that he had been ordered to maintain discretion.

Still, just because the people were weak and ignorant didn't mean that he couldn't appreciate the variety of booths there were, as well as their various types of food.

He stopped in front of a variety of food stands, his ego aching every time he didn't simply have the shop owners offering him something and was instead forced to actually spend money, before he kept moving on, deeper and deeper into the festival grounds.

Soon enough, Xu had reached an empty stretch of the city, likely a result of almost everybody attending the festival, something that was very good while taking his intent for the night into account.

"The lot of you can come out now."

Five men, two of them old, two of them middle-aged and one of them young, suddenly appeared in front of Xu, as if they had simply teleported there.

The five of them clasped their hands together and bowed politely towards Xu, before speaking up.

"Liu clan, Liu Xunjie!"

"Fengli clan, Fengli Bishou!"

"Diqiu clan, Diqiu Jianta!"

"Huimie clan, Huimie Daji!"

"Bagong clan, Bagong Yanzi!"

" ** **WE ALL GREET SUPERIOR SHANMAI!**** "

Xu eyed each and every single one of the present men imperiously, his gaze showing no traces of surprise, before speaking up.

"Where are Shumei, of the Quantou clan, and Yonggan, of the Bugou clan?"

Liu Xunjie, the youngest of the people present, spoke up in answer.

"Senior Shumei has not made himself present, nor has he communicated any delays or absences, superior Shanmai, and neither has senior Yonggan."

"I see..." Xu looked down at his feet with a slight frown, shaking off a few grains of sand from his shoe before speaking up, yet not directly to the five men in front of him.

"Would you, mysterious watcher, happen to know the whereabouts of these two?"

 ** _ _ **BOOM!**__**

Something large and heavy fell from the sky and landed near the chinese martial artists, raising a cloud of sand that, paired with the nighttime, made it difficult to see anything more than a silhouette.

"Far as I know, this Shumei fella must be sharin' livin' space with them worms deep below. 'Least, that's what I heard in Hadano. He must'a pissed off tha wrong person, since his whole damn home up and got blown up."

The sand cloud thinned slightly, revealing a few more details of the silhouette, such as the fact that it was a tall man, at least 6' in height, with a very muscular, extremely wide-shouldered build.

"An' tha' old fuck Yonggan... I did'im in. Couldn't'a happen' ta better people, since their fuckin' clan members decided to pick on my Tsuyoi family. I didn't get 'ta do it for Shumei, but I at least getta smoke ya invadin' asses."

The sand cloud abated completely, revealing the fact that the speaker was a bald man with a pierced face, his build thick with bulging, throbbing muscles. He wore only a pair of pants, leaving his upper body completely bare, revealing a fully colored lion tattoo on his chest.

"How... Interesting..." Xu spoke while fixing the man with an unimpressed gaze. "And who might you be?"

The man flexed his muscles hard, the shock wave released by that act alone being enough to cause the sand around them to flux and flow at around ankle-level, and for the clothes worn by the majority of the chinese martial artists to shake wildly.

Xu's clothes were the exception.

" 'AM TSUYOI HAKAI, A PROUD ENFORCER OF THE TSUYOI FAMILY!"

Xu eyed Hakai dispassionately, before turning to the five martial artists that stood in front of him.

"Kill him."

The five didn't hesitate, each of them dashing straight at Hakai, all of them preparing their individual techniques.

" ** _ _ **STREAM FLOW STRIKE!**__** "

Bishou, one of the middle-aged men, was the first to reach Hakai, his knife-hand strikes flowing with his movement and striking towards the throat, chest, kidneys and liver, only for each of them to be countered with a single hard punch, something that pushed Bishou back.

Yanzi was the next one to strike, his kick coming from behind Hakai and flying straight for his spine. Hakai, however, seemed to sense this attack, spinning out of the way of the kick and retaliating with a back fist aimed at Yanzi's face, which the old man barely succeeded in blocking.

Jianta, the second middle aged man, and Daji, the second old man, were the next ones to reach Hakai, each of them standing at both of his sides and striking out at once with killing intent, Jianta with a pair of daggers, and Daji with a fist wrapped in chains.

Hakai surprised both men by not trying to dodge, block or defend himself in any way.

 ** _ _ **CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!**__**

A series of cracks sounded out, resulting in a wide-eyed Jianta staring at his daggers that were now as good as dust, while Daji grit his teeth to keep himself from shouting in pain from the breaking of his arm.

The two were surprised even __further__ when each of Hakai's hands palmed one of their faces, before they felt their bodies being slammed into one-another, then tossed towards the other repelled fighters as if they were as much as garbage.

" ** _ _ **THE ART OF THUNDER WRANGLING!**__** "

A bolt of of electricity as thick as the average man's arm slammed into the standing form of Hakai, resulting in a large explosion of light and sand that obscured everyone's vision.

The four other fighters stared at Xunjie with shock, while even Xu gave him a rather appreciative look.

"Junior Xunjie," Xu spoke up, "It is a pleasant surprise that you've already grasped the art of projecting your ki in the form of an element at your age. The Liu clan was wise to place their hopes on you."

Xunjie, wiping the few beads of sweat that had built up on his forehead, gave Xu a respectful bow.

"Thank you for your kind words, superior Xu, but this one has not yet fully learned the art. Were grandfather here, he would've created something five times stronger than this with a flick of a finger."

"Indeed that may be the case," Xu said with a nod, "However he was much older than you when he first gained the ability to use your art of thunder wrangling. When you reach his age, how much stronger do you think you'll be?"

" ** **NOW THA'S A QUESTION HE WON'T HAFTA ANSWER!**** "

The chinese martial artists looked back at the source of the voice, the five fighters with shock, and Xu with narrowed eyes. They watched as the cloud of sand and smoke was washed away by a strong sea breeze, revealing the form of Hakai standing in the center of a smoking crater, the edges showing slight signs of vitrification.

The only difference on his person was a mild scorch mark on his chest.

"You fuckers say yer super strong and unbeatable and all that crap, but ya can barely scratch me! Now, Imma hit back!"

An explosion sounded out, coinciding with the deepening and widening of the crater created by the explosion of thunder.

 ** _ _ **BOOM!**__**

Xunjie's eyes widened extremely, his heart nearly stopping at the sight of Hakai's fist, which had been heading straight towards his face, halted by Xu's hand, the back of said hand almost touching his nose.

Xunjie hurriedly jumped back, reuniting with the four others that had saluted Xu alongside him, the five marital artists watching the clash between the Hakai and Xu with wide and attentive eyes.

" _ _Hoh~__... Fer you ta actually stop my punch... Not too bad..."

"The strength of your strike was not wholly inadequate."

The gazes of the two met, sparks all but appearing between them before their limbs turned into blurs as they struck at one-another, each clash causing the sand under them to billow outwards, and shock waves to wash over the seaside.

"HA!"

"Hnh!"

The two clashed once again, Hakai's fist against Xu's kick, something that caused them both to be blasted backwards, forcing them to dig their feet into the sand to slow themselves to a stop.

"THA'S WHA' 'M TALKIN' 'BOUT!"

The longer the fight went, the more fun Hakai had, his eyes shining with a manic gleam, while Xu maintained his composed exterior. Despite this, though, it was undeniable to him that this battle was causing his aged heart to pump with a level of strength and excitement that it hadn't shown in years.

"YER GOOD OL' MAN, BUT IMMA START FIGHTIN' SERIOUS NOW!"

"Heh, you stole the words right out of my mo-"

 ** _ _ **OPPA-OPPA-OPPAI OPPAI!**__**

 ** _ _ **OPPA-OPPA-OPPA OPPAI!**__**

 ** _ _ **FIGHTING FOR LOVE, FIGHTING FOR HEART!**__**

 ** _ _ **AGAINST THE DARK, PURI PURI OPPAI!**__**

 ** _ _ **OPPA-OPPA-OPPA OPPAI...**__**

Everybody present froze at once, before their gazes shifted over towards the source of the ridiculous song, which was behind a large stone at the edge of the sand.

* * *

 ** _ _ **-A few minutes earlier-**__**

Two days. Two days of tortuous awkwardness had passed for Aika, as she saw her parents take every given opportunity to stare at her, only to look away whenever they made eye contact. They would walk up to her with the visible intent to start a conversation, only to stop mid-sentence, stammer out some sort of excuse and move away.

It was starting to drive her nuts!

Aika had no idea what to do about this situation... __No__.

She looked towards he sister, receiving only a knowing nod, and giving one of her own in answer.

Whipping out her phone, Aika dialed in and hit call before she had the time to second-guess herself, tapping the fingers of her free hand on her skirt as the she waited for the call to connect.

 ** _ _ **Beep!**__**

* * *

 ** _ _ **-Back to the Present-**__**

Issei stared at his ringing phone incredulously, before sighing inwardly.

'When I won my new outfit at the cork shooting game I thought that maybe good luck had decided to settle itself in my life, but then something like this goes and happens. I've never been called at this time of the day before in my entire life, and the first time that I am, it happens just at the right moment to expose me to the guys I'd been successfully watching while undetected.'

He looked at the screen of his phone, eyes eyes widening at the sight of Aika's name.

 _ _Click!__

He hurried to answer the call, placing the phone against the side of his mask and speaking in hused tones.

" _ _Hey Ise!"__

"Hey babe!"

" _ _Are you busy right now?__ "

 _"_ I'm at work, but I have a minute to talk, what's up?"

" _ _Well, I told you about how my parents are in town, right?__ "

"Yeah, and you didn't sound particularly thrilled about it."

" _ _Yeah, can't say I was, or am, for that matter, but that's not very important right now. You see... My parents sort of want to meet you. Would you be free this next weekend?__ "

"Yeah, I think I should be free for that weekend, so I'll be there barring some sort of medical or family emergency."

" _ _Okay, that's great! Now I'll let you get back to your work!__ "

"Okay, hun. Love you!"

Having said that, Issei disconnected the call before putting his phone away.

* * *

" _ _Love you!__ "

 ** _ _ **Beep!**__**

Mira, Yohei and Hokkyoku stared at Aika, her frozen posture and unseeing gaze scaring them a fair bit.

"Aika..." Mira spoke in a soothing tone, something that had unfortunately become habitual these last few days, as it meant there was conflict and intense emotions. "What's wrong? What did he say?"

" _ _He said that he loved me...__ "

Aika's mumbled response was followed by a large blush spreading across her face. Her tone had gone louder than a mumble, but was still quite below her usual speaking voice as she absent-mindedly informed her family.

" _ _He said he'll be here next weekend as long as there're no emergencies.__ "

Having said that, the brunette's mouth shifted into a massive grin, lecherous giggles filling the air around her as she ambled out of the room they were in, heading to her own room with perverted intent written all over her face.

Forcing a smile onto her face, Mira spoke towards her still frozen parents.

"I guess we'll be meeting him over lunch this weekend?"

* * *

Hakai, Xu and all of the other martial artists were still staring incredulously at the rock, only for their eyes to widen further at the figure that came out from behind it.

The figure was taller than the average japanese adult, standing at 5 feet and 9 inches ( ** _ _ **179.8 CM**__** ), and was clad in a white, long-sleeved, ankle-length outer robe, with a red dragon coiled around the length of the robe and its head resting over his right shoulder. Between the slits along the sides of the lower part of the robe, a pair of grey colored shaolin pants and socks could be seen, ending in a pair of black, cotton kung fu shoes.

However, the most striking part of the figure was its face, or rather, the mask that covered it.

Well... Simply calling it a mask would not do it justice.

I was something more akin to a helmet, due to the fact that it covered the entirety of the wearer's head, rather than just the face. It was blood red in color, and depicted the visage of an eastern dragon, with a textured forehead done in the pattern of interconnected scales, a ridged, elongated snout with a wide pair of nostrils, with sharp red spikes taking the place of the usual beard. The eyebrows were ridged, and bore spikes similar to those of the beard. A pair of white horns poked out from his forehead, both of them sharp and branching. The eyes of the __mask__ shone with a solid green glow, making it impossible to meet the gaze of it's wearer.

The most striking part of the mask, though, was it's mouth.

Wickedly sharp teeth were constantly visible on the mask, with the corners of the mouth seemingly stretching all the way from ear to ear. Despite this, none of the watchers were really certain whether the mask's grin was friendly, or something much more sinister.

" ** _ _ **Sorry about that!**__** " The tense mood that had sprung up when the masked figure came into view vanished altogether at the sight of him sheepishly scratching the back of its head. " ** _ _ **I**__** ** **really**** ** _ _ **had to take that call.**__** "

Having regained his composure, Xu spoke up.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

The figure tilted it's head, causing the already poor lighting of the deserted seaside to hit it's face at an angle that obscured the majority of it, leaving only the burning green orbs, sharp horns and wide grin - __now exuding a particularly menacing and bloodthirsty feeling__ \- visible.

" ** _ _ **I'm the one that personally destroyed the Quantou clan, and slaughtered Quantou Shumei. As to why I'm here...**__** "

Everybody's eyes widened as the masked figure disappeared, only for their mouths to follow suit at the sight of it standing back-to-back with Xu.

" ** _ _ **I am here to have**__** ** **words**** ** _ _ **with you.**__** "

Xu turned around with a knife hand chop, yet he struck only air as the masked figure was already standing in front of Hakai, who looked serious for the first time in the entire night.

" ** _ _ **I'm going to need to talk to Xu, so you can't kill him. You can play with the other ones if you wish, though. Now pick up your toys and go. Shoo! Shoo!**__** "

"Heh... Heh heh... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Hakai threw his head back and laughed raucously, one of his large hands covering his pierced face as he did. His laughs persisted for quite a while, visibly unnerving the weaker martial artists, and causing even Xu to frown deeply.

"Hah... Heh..." After his laughter wound down, the sight of his face twisted into a rictus of fury could be seen through the gaps of his fingers, large, thick veins throbbing along his face and bald forehead.

" ** **NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE HAVE I BEEN TREATED SO POORLY, AS IF I WERE AS MUCH AS A FILTHY FUCKING DOG! YOU ARE PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF!**** "

A powerful breeze started up around Hakai, whipping up the sand around them. Even behind the thin cloud of sand, the light blue outline that appeared around his body could be seen. Rather, it was even more striking then.

" ** **STEEL STRONG BODY!**** "

Hakai took one step out of the sand cloud, and all present could have sworn that at the moment his foot touched the ground, a ripple spread out, and the ground underneath them shook.

Soon enough Hakai was looking down at the masked man, his bare chest almost being touched by the mask's snout. With a sinister grin that conveyed his full anger marking his face, he spoke sinisterly.

" ** **Any last words?**** "

" ** _ _ **Just two.**__** " The masked man - Issei - spoke. " ** _ _ **Deep breath.**__** "

Hakai tilted his head in confusion.

" ** **Wha-**** _ _Urk!__ "

Anything else he intended to say was interrupted by the fist that had embedded itself in his gut, right below his diaphragm, causing the air to rush out of his lungs in it's entirety, and leaving him grounded, his arms wrapped around his torso as he desperately struggled for air.

He turned towards Xu after that, his mild tone causing the old martial artist to gulp, copious amounts of sweat rolling down his forehead and neck.

" ** _ _ **We're going to have a good, long talk, Xu.**__** "

Xu took half a step back in fright, only for his pride to reassert itself with burning potency, causing his face to shift to a neutral frown that conveyed much less fear than he truly felt as he spoke.

"I do not know who you are, or what you want from me, but since you __do__ know of me, then you must also know of the Shanmai clan and its might. If you touch a single strand of my hair, you will have both the Shanmai clan, and every single one of the other clans it either commands or is allied to chasing after you."

" ** _ _ **You know... You're not the first one to threaten me with their family. The first one was Quantou Lin, and, well... We all know how that ended. Knowing that, do you really think I'm going to be scared of your clan, or simply allow you to freely go on your way?**__** "

Issei tilted his head to the side, avoiding a bolt of thunder, before turning his burning gaze towards Xunjie.

" ** _ _ **How rude.**__** "

One moment Xuenji was just standing there, stupefied at the fact that his attack had been so easily dodged at the range he had fired it from and from outside of the field of view of the masked man, the next one he was flying out of view, while the Issei stood in front of the spot Xuenji previously stood at, his balled fist stretched out.

" ** _ _ **Mhm, he flew pretty far away.**__** " He turned his head towards the petrified Xu and tilted it curiously. " ** _ _ **D'you think he's still alive after that?**__** "

After a few seconds of utter silence other than that of the sea meeting the sand and the few rocks scattered around, Issei shrugged before speaking.

" ** _ _ **Probably doesn't matter, since a flight like that will leave him almost completely shattered. Now...**__** "

'ESCAPE!'

This was the thought that roared within the minds of all of the still standing martial artists, however every time they tried to make good on said thought, they felt their legs clenching up, the usual nimbleness and ease of movement they possessed utterly gone under the absolute terror they felt, replaced with a sensation akin to that of a regular person trying to swim against the current of a raging river, all the while wearing lead leg weights.

Issei was now standing in front of Xu in a parallel to the position Hakai stood in front of him in.

" ** _ _ **I want you to tell me why the Shanmai clan came to japan, which other clans you know to have come, and why.**__** "

"S-senior brother..." Xu spoke in an attempt at a placating tone, "T-there is no need to be like this! If our Shanmai family is operating in your country, it is not out of disrespect! It is just... We knew not that Senior brother had already claimed this territory!"

Despite the fact that the dragon mask was static, Xu almost could have sworn to have seen the green eyes narrowing, something that caused him to panic and start babbling.

"I-if it is the business, then there is no need to be so aggressive! The Shanmai clan would be honored to pay tribute to senior brother's greatness, as we too are being paid handsomely by- ** _ _ **Ack**__**!"

Xu's words were halted when something hit his neck at high speed, causing him to fall over limply.

Issei's hand shot up, allowing him to trap whatever it was that was shot towards him between his fingers. He looked down at what had been shot his way, noticing the fact that it looked like some sort of syringe dart, though rather than having a body made out of hard plastic, it had a body of glass.

Issei turned his head towards the general direction that the darts had come from and focused, something that allowed him to spot a small boat a few miles away.

Inside the speedboat there sat a single figure clad in black from head to toe, with not a single inch of skin or strand of hair visible, that held a massive rifle that one would expect to see used against armored vehicles or buildings, with a bipod resting on the bow of the boat.

The figure pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, something that Issei reacted to by tilting his head left and then right.

The figure seemed to give up, pulling it's massive gun back into the boat and starting it.

" ** _ _ **Oh no you don't!**__** "

Issei bent his legs, his **__**Tantric Energy**__** surging as he prepared to **__**Shunpo**__** his way towards the escaping boat-

" ** _ _ **Ugh... Oof.. ArhgAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**__** "

Only for his head to snap towards the figure of Shanmai Xu, allowing him to see as Xu gripped his own throat with great urgency and writhed around on the ground, his eyes opened so widely that they seemed as if they were about to pop out.

Issei watched with a sense of horrified curiosity as the man's eyes reddened, until two streams of blood started rolling down them as if they were blood tears. Blood came out of his ears, nostrils and mouth as well, while his mouth remained open in a silent scream.

Soon enough the sounds of bones snapping reached Issei's ears, who watched with a deeper and deeper sense of disgust and horror as the bones fractured in ways that caused them to poke out of Xu's body from all over, with his ribcage all but stabbing it's way out of his torso, leaving his internal organs visible.

His silent scream changed as his mouth keept trying to open even further, resulting in his face ripping apart starting from the corners of his mouth, and going all the way up his cheeks, towards his bleeding ears.

His muscles bulged and pulsed before exploding into a mass of growing, throbbing red flesh, growing to the point that they engulfed the previously exposed bones before forcefully __compressing__ itself, causing the bones to snap back into Xu's body.

His legs kicked out wildly, the muscles of his thighs growing thicker and thicker until they shattered the femurs and knees, only to then pull it back together, but __wrong__ , with the knees pointing back rather than forward, like the legs of a quadruped mammal like a bull, or a goat.

The growing muscles caused Xu's clothes to shred, though Issei was spared his nudity by the thick and copious amounts of fur that grew from almost all over his body.

Xu's head also started changing, his face turning into a fur-covered elongated snout, while the ripped flesh and skin from before and all the way to the ears healed and thickened into a pair of lips. The top of his skull started distending, until a large and thick pair of bull's horns burst through, in a splash of flesh, blood and bone.

The figure finally stopped thrashing and slowly stood up, revealing the fact that despite the majority of its body was covered in fur, the middle of its torso was free of it, and his chest even shone with a red glow.

" ** _ _ **ARGHHHHHH!**__** "

" ** _ _ **HNNNNNNNNNG!**__** "

Issei's head snapped towards the new screams, and he watched as one of the old men and one of the middle-aged men started undergoing a transformation similar to Xu's.

" ** _ _ **What the fuck!?**__** "

Issei's horrified exclamation drew the focus of Minotaur Xu, who let out a loud roar.

" ** _ _ **ROAGHHHHHH!**__** "

The roar caught Issei's attention, prompting him to turn his focus back towards Xu, only to be met with a gaping wide mouth that gave Issei an unimpeded view down a Minotaur's throat. The masks' eyes shone with a higher intensity at the sight of a red glow building up in the back of the Minotaur's throat.

 ** _ _ **WOOSH**__**

A torrent of flames erupted from the Minotaur's mouth, completely flooding the place Issei stood at.

 ** _ _ **Glkt!**__**

Issei reappeared beside the Minotaur, his hand thrust into his side all the way down to the wrist and into the general area of where a kidney would be on a human, due to the height diference between them.

" ** _ _ ***%$# !**__** "

The Minotaur let out an indistinct roar before letting a backhand fly towards Issei, who ducked the blow, before pulling his hand from the Minotaur's body and jumping back, creating a certain amount of distance.

' _ _Alright, so right when I'm about to get some juicy information, something hits my source. This something was a dart, shot by a mysterious figure on a boat miles away, and whatever it was that was within the dart, it resulted in my source turning into a fucking Minotaur__.'

Eyeing Mino-Xu, Issei clicked his tongue.

' _ _A Minotaur that breathes fire, and that recovers from wounds fucking fast, if that sealing split on his side says anything about it. Great. So, Ddraig, got any advice?__ '

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **Regenerators are the fucking worst, but there are ways to work around this. As a general rule, their healing factor tends to depend on their magical reserves, and the more injuries they have to heal from, or the more intense and life-threatening the injuries are, the higher the drain on their magic reserves are. Drain their magic reserves enough, and they completely lose their ability to regenerate. Another method is to find or create a weapon, spell or ritual that is capable of suppressing or ignoring healing. Other than that, I can only think of hitting it with an instakill attack that completely obliterates it, or damages it so much that it's incapable of healing from it.**__** ** **]****

' _ _Basically, regenerators are bullshit, hit them really hard and really fast, and find a way to ignore regeneration in the future, to avoid this sort of situation. Got it.__ '

Issei pointed a finger towards the Minotaur, allowing a yellow ball of crackling electricity the size of a marble to appear at the tip of said finger.

" ** _ _ **Kindly, die.**__** "

Balls of lightning fired consecutively towards the Minotaur, rapidly ripping holes into the entirety of its body. Before any single hole had the time to close up, two or three more balls of lightning had already slammed into it, widening it further.

The Minotaur tried to step towards Issei, only to take a lightning bullet to each of its eyes. Soon enough the Minotaur started staggering in place, the red glow within its chest intensifying to an extreme degree.

The red glow started going up from its hole-covered torso towards its throat, before flames started uncontrollably pouring out of it's mouth, nostrils, ears, and even from the holes in its torso. Staggering one last time, the Minotaur let out a flaming belch before it fell over, dead.

After shooting it with a few more lightning bullets in the head to ensure that it was really dead, Issei turned his focus towards the other two Minotaurs, only to watch as one of them swatted the previously downed Hakai away, sending him on a long flight, while the other one seemed content with punching the corpse of one of the martial artists, despite the fact that it was little more than red past all over the sand.

The last martial artist's body was split in two, the torso to one side and the legs to the other.

" ** _ _ **Alright, I'm about fucking done with you two.**__** "

Issei pointed a hand towards each of the Minotaurs.

" ** _ _ **Fucking die.**__** "

A beam of electricity as thick as a human's torso flew from each of Issei's hands, lighting up the dark beach with a flash of blinding light. When the flash of light cleared, all that was left of the two minotaurs were two pairs of standing legs, which didn't take long to fall over, dead.

That, and a pair of 'trenches' in the ocean, which quickly got refilled with water after the beams vanished.

Issei pulled the last dart from his pocket, his eyes narrowed as he watched a brownish-colored liquid with the consistency of water sloshing within the glass syringe.

'It looks so harmless, but the damage it deals...'

Issei sighed, allowing his indignation to leave him as he stored the dart and pulled out his work phone. He dialed the only number it had saved, and as soon as the call was picked up, he spoke up without giving the person on the other side any time to do so.

"XXXX Beach at Tsuchiura city. When you see a restaurant with a white roof, just keep going south until you reach an area without any homes, restaurants, or just people in general. Send at least two trucks, and people capable of cleaning up copious amounts of blood, guts and all other sorts of nastiness. Also, be aware that you will be paying out the nose for this one."

He disconnected the call before Susanoo could respond, before allowing his gaze to fall back on Mino-Xu's corpse.

" ** _ _ **When I find the person or people behind this... I am going to**__** ** **murderize**** ** _ _ **them.**__** "

 ** **[**** ** _ _ **You know, I like it a lot more when you're like this, than when you're drooling after your girls' bodies. Can you be like this all the time?**__** ** **]****

Issei scoffed at that.

' _ _I'm angry, Ddraig, not Emo.__ '

Shaking his head, Issei sat down on the sand as he waited for the clean-up crew.

His day ended with him watching the sun rising over the ocean, all the while suited and masked people scraped bits and pieces of Minotaur off of the sand, and loaded them into a truck.

 ** _ _ **-Chapter, End!-**__**

* * *

 **Okay, I know that I don't usually do this, but I'll do it now.**

 **I have just recently joined a discord for those who enjoy writing and reading fanfiction, and I have to say that I don't regret doing so. The people there are great, the conversations can range from shitposting to serious story talk based on the channel you're at, and it's just generally a great server to be. If you feel like you can withstand an elevated amount of degeneracy and want to join us, you can do so at " Dis cord -dot gg -slash- V54pcwA ". Anyways, see you next update!**


	33. Family Business Meeting

**Story time!**

 **But first, please allow me to thank my wonderful supporters! Joshua G., Shen, FromTheDeep and Tyric Gaia, you guys rule!**

 **If you wanna join the Pantheon of 'Those who Rule', you can do so at 'Pat Reon -dot- com -slash- Francogamerxz '. As always, donations are fully optional, but would be fully appreciated nonetheless.**

 **Wash your hands, keep yourself safe, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Regular character speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " (Whispering, hissing, etc)

" **Powerful character speech** " (Backed by killing intent, pressure, sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind Reading/Telepathic conversation_ '

 **[Ddraig talking out loud]**

 **[** _ **Ddraig telepathically speaking with Issei**_ **]**

' **Ddraig/Powerful being talking** '

* * *

 _ **Clack-click!**_

Andre's focus was taken away from the cup of coffee he had been nursing by the sound of someone trying to open the doors to the bar.

"We're closed right now, please try again later!"

 _ **Clack!**_

His focus snapped towards the door at the sound of the lock disengaging from the outside despite the fact that Daichi was still asleep and that no-one else had a key. The threat that he had been about to make died on his lips, his eyes widening at the sight of a tall, leggy auburn-haired woman with striking blue eyes, soft, round face, and slim build.

"Aww come on, _Red_ ~" She purred dangerously, her painted lips quirked into a smirk. "Are you really going to leave an old friend out in the cold?"

* * *

"Okay, you can stop now."

Lilith and Aika all but sagged to their knees in exhaustion, while Motohama threw himself onto a park bench.

"Alright people, now take a water break, then we run the rest of the way back at double the pace."

Lilith and Motohama stared at Issei in shock, while AIka spoke up incredulously.

"Twice the pace? You _can't_ be serious! You've pushed us so hard that even Matsuda is tired!"

"I'm... Perfectly... Fine..." Matsuda said between deep gulps of air, all the while flashing Issei with a trembling thumbs up. "I... Can... Keep... Going..."

"LIKE HELL-" Lilith begun.

"-YOU CAN!" Only for Motohama to finish.

Lilith turned a wide-eyed tear-filled gaze upon Issei, a pout on her lips as she spoke.

"Ise~, you're gonna have pity on your girlfriends, won't you~?"

"OI!" Motohama shouted from his prone position on a bench, "What about ME!? Don't I deserve a break as well?"

"Hah..."

They all focused on Issei at his uncharacteristic sigh, watching the brunet scratch the back of his head as he spoke.

"You're right, I'm pushing too hard today, sorry. You guys can rest."

The four other traded looks, before Matsuda spoke up, finally having regained his breath.

"Are you okay, dude? You're looking kinda tense."

"..."

Issei crossed his arms over his chest, his face taking up a grave mien that had the others gulping in nervousness.

"I'm meeting Aika's parents today."

"Oh, that's it?" Lilith said lightly. "That's no problem, Ise! You can rela-"

"I see." Motohama said with a sagely nod.

"A true crisis." Matsuda added with one of his own, before turning towards Aika. "Does your father own any sort of firearm?"

The glasses-wearing girl rubbed her chin as she thought, before shaking her head.

"No, no firearms. He _does_ own a few swords, though. They're used as ornamental pieces, but they're actually live steel."

"Mhm." Motohama and Matsuda nodded at the new info, before Motohama chimed in. "Then there is potential for trouble."

"Indeed." Matsuda agreed. "This is a complicated situation."

"Oh come on," Lilith said while waving her hand. "I'm sure everything will be alright! There's no reason for you to worry over meeting Aika's parents when you managed to impress mother!"

"The first thing your mother did when we met was test my resolve."

"Guh!" Lilith flinched at Issei's words, her tone sheepish as she spoke. "Well, she all but adores you _now_ , and isn't that what matters?"

"I'm sure I won't be able to convince Aika's parents to like me via sex."

Motohama and Matsuda simultaneously choked at the nonchalant words, while Aika stared at Issei blankly.

"You had sex with her mother?"

"Yup."

"I see..." Aika's gaze stretched on for a while, with Issei stoically staring back, before she finally spoke again. "Kinky. I'll want to know more later, to add to my research, but keep in mind that that isn't an option when dealing with _my_ parents."

"WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"

"WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"

Motohama and Matsuda prostrated themselves in front of Issei before bowing repeatedly, their foreheads all but smashing into the ground as they did, drawing the gaze of joggers and other people present, who were already paying attention due to the amusement this group's scandalous conversations had been causing them on the daily.

Tuning them out, Lilith spoke.

"Well, I'm sure everything will be alright. Aika's parents are probably reasonable people, who will try to be welcoming towards their daughter's boyfriend, who is building himself a harem... And is shamelessly honest about his sexual exploits..."

Lilith, Aika and Issei traded looks, before Lilith spoke in a serious tone.

"Try your absolute best to always remain calm."

"If they insult you," Motohama spoke up. "Just remind yourself of the fact that you've had sex with their daughter, and nothing they say or do will change that."

The others nodded in agreement at that, before Aika added.

"One last thing, Ise. They may do things that are annoying, insulting, or something of the sort. When they do, you'll likely feel like punching either of them in the face. _Please don't_. It may be cathartic, and feel good in the moment, but it won't be worth the long term implications."

Issei nodded at that.

"Alright, so based on your instructions I should try to always stay calm, constantly remind myself of the fact that I've had sex with Aika, and not punch them in the face. Is that it?"

"Yeah."

"Mhm!"

"Yup."

"Sounds about right."

"Alright guys, thanks for the tips. And feel free to head back home. Drink lots of water, get bed rest and ice yourselves if you're feeling excessively sore."

A series of relieved noises reached Issei, before each of his exercise partners split up.

He himself took a moment to look out the corner of his eye, spotting an almost imperceptible flash of white hair. His eyes narrowed, shoulders tensing and then relaxing in an imperceptible manner, before he too made his way back home in order to prepare to meet Aika's parents.

* * *

Andre took a sip of his coffee before putting the mug down, allowing his gaze to fall on the visitor seated across him, her own steaming mug still untouched as she busied herself with staring at him.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, you know. In my mind, the moment I spotted you, we'd engage in a bloody battle to the death, fueled by years and years of baggage and unresolved issues." The woman said while twirling a strand of her long, straight hair with her index finger. "Well, either that, or a long session of passionate, angry hate-fucking. Never expected our meeting to result in something as mundane as a conversation over a cup of coffee. You've mellowed out."

Andre chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yeah, life will do it to you."

"Life? You mean parenthood, right? After all, while you might not be it's father, you _have_ taken in that woman's child and raised it as your own, haven't you?"

Andre's gaze sharpened at that, his tone dangerous as he spoke.

"Choose your next words carefully."

The woman gave Andre a self-indulgent smile as she spoke.

"Aww come now Red, the child must've grown quite a bit by now. Surely he's ready to have some fun with me? I'll just _eat him up real good~_ "

" _ **Faith.**_ "

A sudden wind rose up within the bar, despite the fact that all of the doors and windows were closed. A heavy feeling filled the room, as well as a sound very much akin to the growling of a tiger. The now named Faith met Andre's gaze, finding within it a very heavy animosity tinged with steadily increasing murderous intent, prompting her to raise her hands while a wry smile came over her face.

" _Just kidding~_ "

The moment those words were said, the feeling of a toothy maw around her neck vanished altogether, though she still felt as if she were facing a dangerous beast that hadn't decided quite just yet whether or not to pounce.

Andre's previous stormy expression lessened, though the air around him still wavered unnaturally.

"What the hell did you come here for, Faith?"

The previous jocosity that the woman was displaying vanished, her mien and tone serious in a way that Andre had rarely seen before as she spoke.

" _ **They**_ are active again."

Andre's eyes widened to the extreme.

"Impossible! We-... _**She**_ dealt them a devastating blow! They should've never been able to recover from it!"

"They wouldn't... At least, not normally. But... They're making allies. I came here to warn you directly for two reasons, Andre. One was to let you know that they're active again. The second one... Was to let you know that they're currently in Japan."

Andre sagged into his seat, his face conveying tiredness in a manner that was very uncharacteristic of him.

" _Shit_."

He rubbed a hand down his face, before taking a deep breath and straightening his posture, his tone strong.

"Can you give me some sort of extra information? Who their allies are? What they're doing right now?"

Faith shook her head at that.

"I've given you everything I could. Now, let me give you something more, a piece of advice: Leave. Pack up your stuff, pick up the kid and come with me, far away from all this madness. Let someone else deal with the problem."

"I can't, Faith. You _know_ that. And you know _why_."

"Can't, Andre, or _won't_? There is nothing keeping you from staying away, other than _yourself_."

"She sacrificed herself to take down the Order and save our lives! How do you expect me to just sit and stare while her deeds are undone, and they rise back into power?"

Faith glared at Andre, her gaze a mix of anger and something else as she spoke.

"Alright, fine then! Throw your life away for the memory of a dead woman! I'm sure that is the example she'd want you passing onto her son! Teach him to be a co-dependent child, so focused on hugging another's skirts that they're blind to the things that are staring them right in the face, and willing to foolishly throw their lives away!"

Faith knew that she had gone too far by the hurt she saw in Andre's gaze for a moment, and she instantly regretted her words. However, there is no cure for regret, and once said, words cannot be taken back.

" _Out._ "

"Andre, don't! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, I swear-"

"I... I don't care, Faith," Andre's tone changed from angry to tired in a moment, causing Faith to feel a guilty twist in her gut. "Just leave. Please."

The woman bit her lip and nodded, standing up without having even touched her coffee, and making her way to the door. She opened it, and, before leaving, turned around to face Andre again.

"I'm... Sorry, for having said that, but... I still meant the part about it being foolish. Please, Andre, don't fight them. They'll _kill you_."

"They'll _try._ "

She shook her head at that.

"I see that I can't change your mind. Goodbye, Andre."

The door closed behind her, killing the small cold breeze that had flowed into the bar for an instant.

As soon as the door closed behind Faith, Andre reached for the cup of coffee he had served her, only for it to crumble completely, alongside the table it had been resting on.

"Tch. I can't even control my own power right now... There's no way I can even try to fight the Order right now. I'll need to get back in shape before that."

Decision made, Andre left the bar...

Only to re-enter it with a broom and a dustpan, before sweeping up the dust resulting from his short burst of magical incontinence.

He never noticed the fact that Daichi had been watching for the entirety of the conversation.

* * *

"You know, Aika, you really should put this sort of effort into taking care of your appearance more often! Freeing and brushing your hair, and trading your glasses for contact lenses allows more of your beauty to visibly shine."

"You know why I usually don't, nee-san. If a 'plain' girl has my tastes and temperament, then stupid, lecherous boys won't try to take a shot at me or try to make me into a notch on their bedpost, since dealing with my unabashed perversion would be 'troublesome', and would 'rub off on them and stain their image'. If I looked like this all the time, all these same boys would be hounding me non-stop."

"Oh? And what about this Issei boy, then?"

"Ise is different. He appreciates a pretty girl, but he's not so shallow as to see that as the only important thing! He _loves_ me and my quirks, accepts me fully, but he tries to push me to improve myself as well!"

"Love... Isn't something like that too intense, and too... Serious, for your first relationship? How can you even be sure he loves you?"

Aika stared at Mira as if she had missed something completely obvious, her tone a deadpan as she spoke.

"He _told_ me, _duh_."

"Oh, Aika... Boys, well... They're usually willing to say or do anything to try to get girls to have sex with them. After they do, well..."

"Ise wouldn't ever do something like that. He takes his word very seriously."

Mira just stared at Aika, prompting the girl to sigh.

"I know you're skeptical, nee-san, but you'll see it after meeting him."

 _ **DING DONG!**_

" _Pardon me for the intrusion_."

"Oh, that's him!" Aika panicked lightly, looking herself over in the mirror. "Does my hair look alright? Is my make-up done properly? Do I look good?"

Mira watched Aika scrutinizing herself in front of the mirror with a wry smile, a bitter-sweet feeling welling up in her chest.

'Ah... My younger sister is growing up, and I don't know whether to be happy about it, or sad that it's happening this fast.'

Pushing those thoughts aside, Mira followed the fretting Aika down the stairs into the entrance hall.

* * *

"Pardon me for the intrusion."

Those were Issei's first words towards Aika's parents, and they were said with not a deep, formal bow as would be expected of him in his current situation, but with a move of the head that was barely a bow, and was arguably a nod more than anything else.

Yohei and Hokkyoku responded in kind, giving Issei the barest nod possible out of protocol and propriety rather than respect or appreciation, while the looked him up and down, registering the full details of his appearance.

The brunet was wearing a red, long-sleeved, button-up shirt, with a black blazer over it, a pair of navy-colored jeans, and a pair of dress shoes in a brown that matched his belt, both in leather.

Yohei gave a small nod of grudging appreciation. For a teenage boy that hadn't grown up in their world where image is everything, the young man had dressed... Adequately, even if he lacked in accessories such as a watch.

While Yohei showed a certain level of appreciation for Issei's getup, Hokkyoku's face showed no reaction to it.

"Welcome to our home, Issen-san."

"Issei, actually. Hyoudou Issei. And thank you for receiving me."

'Hoh... So he is not too intimidated to correct me, and while he responded politely to my welcome, he chose to thank us for the reception, rather than apologizing for troubling us, meaning both that he isn't willing a particularly apologetic person, and that the amount of thankfulness he is conveying is directly proportional to the amount of good-will we show him as hosts, meaning that he is only ever willing to play on our level, and never put himself at a disadvantage by giving out more esteem and respect that he is willing to receive. No, Yohei, you're over-analyzing things. You're talking to a teenage boy, not a business competitor.'

Yohei pushed those thoughts aside for the moment, intent on probing the young man further, only for his wife's gasp to draw his attention. Hokkyoku was staring open-mouthed at the top of the staircase, prompting him to look as well, only for the sight of a fully done-up Aika to almost floor him.

He watched jealously as Aika's face bloomed into a wide smile at the sight of the Issei boy that her parents had not seen since her early childhood years, the pride of watching his daughter bloom warring with the pain of watching her grow up even more.

"So..." Aika's smile gained a nervous edge to it, a small blush tinting her cheeks as she pushed a strand of hair over her ear. "What do you think, Ise?"

Issei, whose face had also bloomed into a wide smile the moment Aika appeared at the top of the stairs, nodded at her as he spoke.

"I think that you're absolutely gorgeous, as always, but, in a different manner than usual."

"W-what do you mean?"

The brunet's smile deepened.

"Usually you have this _raw_ appeal, a beauty that shows in the simplicity you present yourself with, like an uncut gem. Right now I'd say you look like a gem that has already been worked on: Cut, polished, and treated by the hands of a professional, but only ever as beautiful as the base material has the potential to be."

Aika's blush intensified to the point that she almost looked the color of a boiled lobster, while Yohei and Hokkyoku turned their focus back towards Issei, both of them giving him inscrutable looks.

" _Ahem_ "

Everybody's gaze moved to the older girl who was very obviously Aika's sister, who spoke with a smile.

"Aika, how about some introductions?"

"Ah!"

Aika dashed down the stairs - _surprising Mira with her unwavering balance_ \- and stopped right in front of Issei. She took Issei's hands into her own, before speaking.

"Mom, Dad, Mira, this is my boyfriend, Issei. Ise, these are my parents, Kiryu Yohei," Aika waved a hand towards her father, "Kiryu Hokkyoku," she then nodded towards her mother, "And my older sister, Kiryu Mira."

The stood there in silence, Issei and Aika making googly eyes at one-another, while Yohei's patience visibly decreased, Hokkyoku kept an inscrutable stare fixed on Issei, and Mira prayed inwardly for her parents not to screw things up.

"Maybe," Mira spoke up, "We should make ourselves more comfortable in the sitting room?"

"Yes," Yohei said with a nod, "Let's."

* * *

"So, Issei-san..." Mira began, "Tell us a little bit about yourself."

Aika squeezed Issei's hands comfortingly, drawing a smile from him, before he spoke.

"My full name's Hyoudou Issei, and I'm 15 years old. I like working out, my precious people, and my first job."

"How interesting!" Mira said with a smile, before Hokkyoku spoke up, addressing Issei for the first time.

"Tell us about your job."

Issei's eyebrow raised at the barely-veiled order, while Aika's eyes narrowed. Yohei cringed inwardly at his wife's brusqueness, though his face did not at all show it.

Issei opened his mouth, before closing it again, closing his eyes and taking a deep, focusing breath. After he opened his eyes, his gaze glided towards Aika, before a smug smile made its way to his face. When he answered, his tone showed none of the irritation that would be expected from him.

"I worked at a bar every day a few hours after school ended."

"Oh!" Mira said enthusiastically. "What sort of bar? A dessert bar? Sushi bar?"

His smile widened further at that.

"Nothing of the sort. It was actually a dive bar. A lot of rough people, bikers, yakuza, free-flowing booze and the occasional fight breaking out. I had to break apart these fights, or at least minimize the collateral damage. It was a great place to work at."

A pin could've dropped in that room and the sound would've been heard at mainland China.

Yohei and Hokkyoku stared at Issei in wide-mouthed shock, while Aika's mouth spread into a smile akin to Issei's at her parents' obvious shock.

"I... See..." Mira said with a slow nod, trying her absolute best to keep the whole meeting from resulting in a massive mess, "You said it was your first job. Does that mean you currently have a different one?"

Issei's smile wilted at that, changing into a stern frown, his tone losing all of the fondness as he spoke.

"Yeah, I'm an independent contractor."

"That's interesting! Wh-"

Hokkyoku interrupted Mira once again.

"Who do you work with, and what sort of services do you provide them?"

Issei considered giving a sarcastic or acerbic answer, but he ultimately decided to actually _try_ to play nice.

"I'm currently working with Hageshi Katagi, the head of Hageshi Enterprises. The services I provide," 'Alright, how the hell do I re-word "go fight and investigate stuff to save Japan?' "Are security and Fieldwork. I research subjects that are of interest for my employer that others are incapable of, and I protect people and places that he wants protected."

Hokkyoku and Yohei's eyes widened at that again, before Yohei spoke.

"Hageshi Katagi? He is one of the most prolific entrepreneurs of modern Japan, with a net worth of over 3.5 billion US Dollars!"

"That's very impressive, Issei-san!" Mira said with a genuine smile before turning towards Hokkyoku. "Is it not, mother?"

The woman pursed her lips before giving a reluctant nod.

"That was very interesting, Issei-san!" Mira said. "Is there anything else notable about you that you that you'd like to talk about?"

"I really like breasts."

"...Eh? Excuse me, what did you-"

"Small, medium or large, perky or slightly droopy, round or teardrop shaped, symmetrical or asymmetrical, with nipples that are light or dark, large or small, inverted or not, as long as the woman behind them is beautiful, then so are her breasts. Aika's breasts are very beautiful, by the way."

Yohei choked on air, while Hokkyoku's hardened so much that it could've been sculpted out of marble. Seeing that her mother was about to explode, Mira interjected, again.

"What if father and Issei-san go out and spend some 'man' time together, while the three of us get to talking amongst ourselves, mhm?"

"Yes," Yohei said decisively, surprising Mira, Hokkyoku and Aika alike. "Follow me, Issei-san."

The moment the two men left the sitting room, Aika turned towards her mother.

"Go on, mother. Say whatever it is you've been wishing to say this whole time."

"Mother, Aika, how about we all calm-"

"That boy is a no-good miscreant that will ruin your future if you let him. _Don't_."

"I knew it! You never intended to give Issei the benefit of the doubt! You've been silently judging him from the start, and no matter what happened, you would have found something to criticize, and some reason to claim that he wasn't good enough. Newsflash, _mother_ , you don't get to choose who is or isn't good enough for me to date, _I_ do!"

"Don't be ridiculous, daughter. That boy is a lowborn brute, luxuriating in violence and lust, and little more! He has no future prospects. He _has no future._ "

"Sure, just ignore the part about how he was hired by someone so prolific that the mere mention of his name had you and father genuinely impressed."

"He was _lying_ , Aika. Hageshi Katagi has enough money to hire whomever he wishes for whatever endeavors he wishes to undertake! If he wants security he could have hired large goons, fighters, or even ex-special forces operatives, and if he wanted field work he could have had private investigators or scientists, depending on the type of field work he wanted. With all of his company resources, he would have absolutely _no_ need to hire an untested, unproven, inexperienced _teenaged boy_."

"Issei. Doesn't. Lie. Hell, you watched him talk about his first job as his appreciation of breasts with no hesitation, despite him knowing that those subjects would have passed a poor impression of him."

"He is a wannabe-rebel provocateur. He says things that he knows will elicit intense responses from authority figures, and derives personal satisfaction from knowing that he managed to annoy and irritate them. There is no real substance to him, only hollow teen rebellion. He is no good for you."

"YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE THAT! You _barely_ even know who I am! You didn't know about my school matters up until a few years ago, you don't know my habits, my likes and dislikes, my hopes and dreams, or my goals for the future! _You don't know me_ , but you feel entitled to make major decisions about my life without even _considering_ what _I_ want!"

"Aika, I just want what's best for you, can't you see that?"

"Do you want what is best for me, or what is best for _you_? It's very convenient for you to have me live in an environment that is generally the same in terms of company, friends and daily activities, since that means you have some basic knowledge of my life, gotten from Nee-san or inferred or estimated by you, and can then pretend that you are actually _involved_ in my life! You're doing this not for my future, but out of selfishness and insecurity!"

Aika was glaring hotly at her mother, and Hokkyoku met said glare with gaze so cool that it was borderline arctic, all the while Mira watched from the background, incapable of doing a thing.

'I hope Issei-san and father are getting along better than this.'

* * *

"So, Issei-san, you said that you are usually contracted by Hageshi Katagi-san as security?"

"Yes."

Yohei, who had been walking and talking with Issei, stopped in front of a pair of paper doors before sliding them open, revealing a large, wide dojo, with a couple of mannequins fully clad in edo-era samurai armor.

The man took off his shoes before stepping into the dojo, an act that Issei mirrored.

Issei watched as Yohei rolled up his sleeves while walking towards the armored mannequins.

"Did you know that I used to practice kendo?"

"No, you did not."

"Funny story. I had been practicing kendo since grade school and, without intending to brag, I got pretty good. I'd been representing whichever school or academy I studied at whenever there was any sort of competition. I won a few national competitions, a few dozen regional competitions, and I lost count of how many district tournaments I won.

"I could've gotten a full ride into university on kendo alone, and the coach was even grooming me for the World Kendo Championship."

Despite everything else that had happened so far, Issei found himself genuinely curious about this story.

"What happened?"

Yohei dragged a finger down the spotless helmet of one of the armors, his tone half-nostalgic as he spoke.

"Life happened. My father suddenly passed away, and I found myself saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the company as an 18 year old barely out of high school. I had to sacrifice almost everything else in life in order to be able to be able to pick up the skills and knowledge needed to make sure the company at least _survived_ , all the while keeping the shareholders from swallowing it up."

"Sounds hard."

"It was very difficult. I was forced to take the position of effective company head, which meant working my way back my father's files in order to figure out what deals he was making, with whom, and why; I had years and years of business deals to go over, all the while trying my best to make the most profitable and sustainable deals of my own, _and_ learning business management, all the while inserting myself into the company dynamics in a more prominent manner and doing my best to persuade the majority of the staff into becoming 'my faction', rather than backing the shareholders."

"Damn."

Despite the somewhat judgemental nature of Yohei, listening to his life story fostered a sense of grudging respect, no matter how small, within Issei.

"Damn indeed. But... It all turned out for the better. The high-pressure environment pushed me in ways that I had never been pushed before. I found myself discovering new facets of myself, acquiring a suite of business-related skills, and I saw myself in a position to push the company higher and further than my father had been able to. From one day to the next, _**KoRyu**_ ( _Yellow dragon_ ) corporation had risen from a middle-level stagnant company, to one of the regional big boys.

"I started rubbing shoulders with the big boys, appearing in magazines and talk shows, and showing up to all sort of events. It was in one of these events that I ended up meeting the love of my life, Hitomi Hokkyoku, the heiress of an also steadily rising Hitomi family.

"I somehow managed to attract her attention, and we ended up falling in love. We got married and had our children, first Mira, then Aika, and we decided that we wanted to make sure that our daughters never had to struggle the way we did, so we're building up as much wealth and strengthening our company as much as possible to ensure that they get to have their you in a way we did not have."

"That's... Genuinely impressive. What does that have to do with me working with Hageshi Enterprises, though?"

"Well, while I went on a bit of a tangent, the point that I wanted to make was that I was extremely good at Kendo. A mixture of talent, hard work and dedication allowed me to be considered by the All Japan Kendo Federation as the most promising candidate for an international gold medal; and while I did have to give up pro kendo, and kendo in general for quite a few years, when myself and my wife joined the companies and split our responsibilities, I had the time to get some rust off."

The man reached into a wooden chest and withdrew a pair of _Bokken_ ( _wooden swords_ ), before tossing one of them towards Issei, who snatched it out of the air and curiously looked it over.

"Let me be quite honest with you, boy. I am not sure what to think of you. Our interactions so far gave me a few mixed feelings about you, some of them positive, others negative, and while the 'Breast' comment would have usually resulted in me instantly rejecting you as a suitor for my daughter, I am _still_ aware of some of her interests, as marginally as said awareness might be.

"It was extremely likely that any partner my daughter chose shared in her interests. I choose to believe in both her judgement, and my gut feeling about people, two things that tell me that you're at least _decent_ , if not a good person. Despite that, there is still a large part of me that sees Aika as my baby girl, and you as the Lothario trying to take advantage of her; that is without mentioning the part of me that resents the fact that you bond with Aika is deeper and much more solid than mine and my wife's. It is not fair, it is not your fault, but these parts are there nonetheless, and pretending that they're not won't change a thing."

"So what, you're going to beat me up with a wooden sword in order to make yourself feel better?"

"No. I am not a child abuser, or an idiot."

"Then what is this about?"

"This is me offering you the opportunity to prove your worth to me. To prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hageshi Katagi-san had a reason to hire you that validated your words, and, in case it turns out to be the truth, which I am leaning towards believing it is, then perhaps you could learn something that keeps you alive for longer, since my daughter seems to have fallen for you quite deeply, and your death would more than likely devastate her.

"So, Hyoudou Issei, the 'problem-solver' for Hageshi Katagi, the Yakuza boss, will you cross swords with me, or not?"

Issei flashed a dangerous smirk towards Yohei, his right hand loosely holding the _Bokken_ to his side, while the older man positioned himself properly, his feet spaced and his blade held in front of him with two hands.

Issei's eyes widened when Yohei suddenly appeared within his guard, sword already halfway through a swing that would result in him getting struck right on the crown of the head.

 _ **Clack!**_

A swift swing from Issei managed to deflect the older man's blade, resulting in it just barely missing his shoulder before he could hop back to create space between them.

Yohei nodded at that.

"You've got good reflexes, you don't freeze or panic when faced with possible pain, and you automatically disengaged when you felt at a disadvantage. Even though you may not be trained in the path of the blade, you at least have good basics.

"However..."

Yohei moved again, his speed able to marginally outpace Matsuda without _**Tantric Energy**_ usage despite the fact that he was only taking what amounted to short, shuffling steps, before his blade went for another hit at the crown.

Issei brought his blade up to block it again, only for Yohei to shift his strike so that the two ended in a blade lock, before moving his bokken in a swift horizontal arc that slid along Issei's stomach.

"You may have an advantage in speed, strength and reflexes, but I am very skilled and experienced in swordplay, something that, if used properly, can nullify your advantage. By shifting up my grip at the moment we clash I can force us into a blade lock, with the leverage I have over you allowing me to keep your blade trapped for free in terms of energy expenditure.

"From that position I simply needed a swift slash to an unguarded region, and the fight was mine to win. Do you wish to procc-"

" _Fight, you say_."

Yohei blinked at Issei's tone of voice, his own strong and steady as he spoke.

"Yes, we have been fighting so far. Or will you say that our previous bouts didn't count?"

"Nah, none of that. I'm ready, let's go again."

"Very well."

Yohei adopted his stance again, while Issei changed things up by placing both hands behind his back, the bokken held vertically so that it was hidden behind his body.

Issei then proceeded to dash towards Yohei, prompting the man to shift his stance slightly into a more defensive one.

Issei's right arm started a heavy swing from the shoulder, causing Yohei to angle his sword to quickly block or parry the heavy blow that was to follow.

"WRONG SIDE!"

Yohei's eyes widened at the sight of an empty right hand coming into view, before a blur of wood came into his field of view from the opposite direction.

 _ **Crack!**_

He barely managed to block the surprisingly swift left-handed attack, resulting in both blades being deflected in opposite directions _hard_.

'I managed to block the blow and redirect the majority of the energy towards him, meaning that my return swing will be arriving faster than hi-'

Yohei's eyes widened when he felt Issei's right arm wrapping itself around his right elbow and _squeeze_ , forcing it to hyperextend, resulting in said arm releasing the hilt of the bokken. A rising knee to the _Kashira_ had the wooden katana flying off of Yohei's other hand.

He had an instant to see Issei's smirk, before he was taken down by a rapid sequence starting on a kick to one of his inner thighs that sent him down to one knee, before a leg hooked itself around the back of his good leg and, with the grip on his arm, resulted in a clean takedown.

By the end of it all the two men were bare-handed, with Issei kneeling atop Yohei, one of his hands on Yohei's own arm, while the other one wrapped around his neck.

Their gazes met for a prolonged moment, before Issei released Yohei and stood up, holding out a hand for the older man.

Yohei accepted the extended hand with little hesitation, blinking at the ease with which the younger man hauled him back to his feet. He walked up to the bokken he had been using and picked it up, noticing the crack in the wood at the point of impact of the last clash.

Issei picked up the other bokken, the two remaining silent for a moment, before Yohei spoke up.

"Issei-san... What in the _hell_ was that?"

"That was me learning my lesson. You told me from the start that this was a fight for something important, for your acknowledgement and acceptance of me as your son-in-law, but because of the wooden sword you gave me, I ended up limiting myself, thinking of it as a duel rather than as a fight, and going at it in the way that gave you the most advantage.

"When I duel I may follow 'rules' and 'regulations', but in a fight, everything goes. The important part is that you make it out alright in the end, and the other guy doesn't."

Yohei found himself nodding in agreement.

"A rather ruthless stance for one your age to take, but a correct one nonetheless. It is a train of thought we follow in the cutthroat world of business as well. You set the moral boundaries that you are unwilling to ever cross, and then everything else is fair game."

"Life-and-Death situations sort of make this mindset second-nature."

'Heh, so this is a _man_ I'm dealing with right now, rather than a boy...'

Yohei smiled ruefully, his tone wry as he spoke.

"It seems that my assumptions about you were wholly incorrect..."

His smile turned into a serious frown.

"Promise me that you'll protect Aika."

Issei's own mien was serious as the grave as he responded.

"With my very life."

"Promise that _you_ won't hurt her."

"I'll chop off an arm before I needlessly make the choice to hurt Aika."

"...I guess that is all I can reasonably ask for."

"Mhm."

"This spar really opened up my appetite, let's go check if lunch is served already."

"Alright."

* * *

Aika stared proudly, Mira stared in surprise and Hokkyoku stared blankly at the stream of easy conversation going back and forth between the two men, a stark contrast to their early interactions.

"So, Issei-san, tell me about your parents!"

Issei took a moment to swallow his food, an extremely delicious A5 grade Wagyu Beef Filet Mignon, with a side of Caesar salad, before responding.

"My father is Hyoudou Gorou, and he works as an accountant for XXXX company. My mother is Hyoudou Miki, and she's a housewife. She is the one that made sure me and my father were well fed, full of energy and presentable as I grew up. Without her there, we'd more than likely be completely lost in all things domestic. "

"A housewife!" Yohei exclaimed. "An often overlooked and underestimated role. I speak from personal experience when I say that a homecooked meal by someone that loves you feeds and energizes you much better than any restaurant meal."

"Yeah! You're completely right, old man!"

Mira gasped at Issei's form of address of her father, expecting some sort of correction, scolding, or something of the kind, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of her father nodding in agreement, not caring about the informal form of address in the least.

"I know, right?"

Aika smiled at the interaction between her father and Issei. She didn't know what happened between the two of them, whatever it is they talked about or did that resulted in them at least _trying_ as they were at the moment, but she considered it good. Great, even. That meant that her father was choosing to push aside his own issues and preconceived notions about Issei, and trusting in _her_ judgement in picking Issei as her boyfriend. That showed that he was willing to actually listen to her and take her words into consideration, rather than just steamrolling over her life and hijacking her control over each and every one of its aspects.

"An accountant and a housewife, huh..."

Her mother, on the other hand, seemed to have her heart set on being an absolute Bee with an itch at every step of the way, no matter what.

"Growing up in such background, and then finding yourself surrounded by particularly wealthy classmates in _Kuoh_ must be difficult, no? Emotions are much more intense when you're a teen than during any other time in your life, up to and including envy."

"It's not difficult at all. My parents always did their absolute best to ensure that I grew up with everything that I could ever need and want. I had a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in my stomach, good schools, transportation, electronics, an allowance and the occasional trip.

"I have no need to envy anyone."

"So that's how you want to play it, then?" Hokkyoku begun, "Fine then."

She snapped her fingers, prompting one of the nearby maids to bow politely before leaving the room. After that, she spoke.

"Hyoudou Issei. I don't know exactly what you desire from my daughter, though I can surmise the whatever those things may be. My daughter, Aika, is a naive girl though, and she hasn't caught on at all, so she's going to be caught up in this crush for you she has, meaning that no matter what I say she won't change her opinion. That means that the best course of action is to make her witness the truth first hand."

The maid that had left the room returned with a briefcase that she paced right in front of Issei, before turning it towards him and popping it open, causing Mira and Yohei's eyes to widen in alarm, Aika's in surprise, and Issei's to narrow in honest confusion.

The brunet young man turned a heavily focused gaze towards Hokkyoku before speaking up.

"What is this?"

The woman linked her fingers together in front of her mouth, her voice frigid as she spoke.

"Inside that briefcase there are 10,000,000 Yen, and a contract that stipulates that you'll receive a 5,000,000 yen stipend every three months for the rest of your life... As long as you stay away from Aika."

Yohei's eyes widened in panic at that, while Mira stared in shock, and Issei silently met Hokkyoku's gaze.

"W-what the hell, mother! What are you playing at here!?"

Hokkyoku turned towards Aika, her tone clinical as she spoke.

"Simple. This young man is chasing after you for your wealth and status, and you fell for his sweet words like the teenage schoolgirl you are. If he _does_ remain attached to you, not only will that prove a future risk for the corporation and the legacy we wish to leave you and your sister, his low status will also reflect poorly on you. The fact that one of the daughters of the legendary Yellow Dragon leadership was incapable of attracting a _proper_ partner with a _proper_ background will be constantly brought up as a weapon against in any and every social gathering you participate in.

"This lowborn young man is nothing more than an anchor for you, Aika. Me? I am simply trying to detach him from you. If it is wealth that he desires, then we simply grant it to him. 5 million per trimester won't even put a dent in our personal accounts, and should keep him in the comfortably hedonistic lifestyle he wishes to have."

She turned her focus back towards Issei.

"So, what do you say, boy?" Yohei winced _hard_ when Hokkyoku said that particular word. "Will you try attaching yourself to someone that may lose her interest in you in the future or not even be the heiress, risking your shot at the best lifestyle you could have, or will you take the good deal that will set you up for life?"

Everybody's eyes turned towards Issei as soon as those words were said.

A smirk appeared on his face as his hand stretched towards the briefcase, said smirk causing Yohei to cringe hard, before the brunet grabbed the briefcase's handle.

Hokkyoku's turned towards Aika at that, her face showing slight sorrow mixed with a decisive drive as she spoke.

"See, daughter? It was as I sai-"

" _Ha..._ "

A chill ran down the spines of every present individual at the mere sound of Issei's sigh, forcing them all to turn their focus towards him.

 _ **BAM!**_

They all jumped in place when Issei suddenly slammed the briefcase closed, before he simply threw it on the ground.

He leaned back into his chair in a relaxed, indolent manner that he hadn't displayed for the entire day; despite that, everybody staring at the young man could feel an instinctive fear from the bottom of their very souls; this fear was aided by the very large, seemingly friendly looking smile that spread his face, completely at odds with the blazing gaze that he alternatively placed upon Hakkyoku and the briefcase itself.

He ultimately sighed again, his form so relaxed that his shoulders slumped slightly as he stood up from his seat, his tone voice perfectly civil and conversational as he spoke.

"You know, I thought that things were going alright by now, and that if anything else occurred, it would be at best a minor annoyance. Never would I think that you would choose to imply that I'd abandon any of my precious people for money. That made me _real_ mad. So, in order to not have to punch you, I am simply going to leave, and never set foot in this home again."

Having said that, Issei slowly walked out of the mansion.

"HOW COULD YOU!?"

Aika's near-shrieks after Issei's deathly calm words caused them all to jump in surprise, with the brunette getting up to her feet and pointing an accusing finger at her mother, said finger trembling from the sheer amount of anger she felt.

"HOW DARE YOU TREAT ISSEI LIKE THAT! BELITTLE HIM, HIS FAMILY, IS BACKGROUND, AND ESPECIALLY _IMPLY THAT HE'D ABANDON SOMEONE FOR MONEY!?_ "

Hokkyoku seemed to be ready to answer, only for Aika to wave a hand in front of herself, her tone having cooled to an arctic degree comparable to her mother's.

" _Don't_ answer. Don't talk to me again, and _don't_ expect to see me set foot in this home unless Issei chooses to willingly do so as well. "

Having said that, Aika turned around and ran after Issei.

Hokkyoku stood up, ready to shout, and bark orders, only for Yohei's hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned a confused gaze towards her husband, only for him to respond with a shake of his head.

"You just deeply offended and drove away the best shot we have at rekindling our relationship with our daughter. "

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you just caused the person dearest to Aika at this point in time such great offense that it is unlikely they will ever choose to set foot in our home, and with him, left our daughter."

"This is ludicrous! There is no need for all this drama, we can simply transfer Aika over to an all-girl's academy far away from this boy, and give her time to get over it. She'll likely even thank us in the future!"

"If you do that," Mari spoke up, "Then Aika will hate you forever. Nothing you ever say or do will ever be enough to change that. Even if she ultimately ends up getting together with Isse again, the sheer fact that you ignored all of her wishes and acted will be enough."

"Plus," Yohei spoke up somberly, "Issei-san works with Hageshi Katagi. Hageshi-san _knows_ people. If you gave the order to have Aika transferred from Kuoh, how long do you think it would take for the paperwork for the transference of guardianship over Aika to make its way to our hands?"

Hokkyoku blanched at that, her tone showing some trepidation for the first time that day as she spoke.

"Y-you truly believe that that boy is working with Hageshi Enterprises?"

Yohei simply nodded, causing Hokkyoku's legs to lose their strength.

"I... I miscalculated. But I can fix it! I just need to go talk to th-"

"No, mother," Mira said with a shake of her head, "Not today. Not tomorrow. Not anytime soon, even. Give the two of them time to cool off first, _then_ try to make amends."

The three then elapsed into silence, each of them lost in their thoughts.

* * *

"Ise! Wait for me, Ise!"

Issei turned around, only to receive a facefull of Aika breasts as the girl jump-hugged him, her arms wrapped around the back of his head and pressin him deeper into her chest, while her legs wrapped around his torso.

"I'm... Sorry, for mother's... Everything, basically."

The brunet wiggled free of the clinch, giving himself the space to speak audibly.

"It's not your fault, Ai-chan. I won't blame you for something that you're not guilty of."

"Thanks, Ise. I... I _love you_ , Ise."

"I love you, my Ai-chan."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, before Aika spoke up in a sheepish tone.

"Hey, Ise... I kind of ran away from home, so I'd appreciate it if-"

"You're always welcome to come and stay with me, my Ai-chan."

The girl climbed down from Issei's lap in order to give him a proper hug, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face in his chest.

"I kind of left without anything of mine, since I wanted to leave direclty with you, sooooo..."

"Sure," He said in fond exasperation, a hand patting the top of her head, "We'll get you whatever it is you need."

"I have the best boyfriend ever."

While the day wasn't as good as it could have been, Issei ultimately decided to just put the bad parts away from his mind and focus on the good.

 **Live-in Girlfriend x1 - Get!**

* * *

 **Edited for money reasons. People have pointed out that my smol brain money scaling made Hageshi not all that impressive, so I had to fix that to fit in with my view of the man and his company.**

 **Also, if you enjoy fanfiction of all types and fandoms, and would like to have a way to directly communicate with me and other prolific authors, you can do so by joining the Extalia discord server at "** **discord -dot- gg -slash- V54pcwA "**

 **Anyways, have a good day!**


	34. Trifecta

**It's time... To thank the League of Legendary Contributors!**

 **Let us collectively salute Joshua G., Shen, FromTheDeep and Tyric Gaia for their aid.**

 **If you too wish to join the League of Legendary Contributors, feel free to do so at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz ".**

 **If you wish to help but are unable to make a monetary contribution, you can do so by leaving a review, giving the story a follow and/or favorite in case you haven't already done so, and spread word of the story to people you believe would enjoy it!**

 **With that out of the way, let us proceed!**

* * *

"Regular character speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " (Whispering, hissing, etc)

" **Powerful character speech** " (Backed by Killing Intent, pressure, sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind reading/telepathic conversation_ '

 **[Ddraig talking out loud]**

 **[** _ **Ddraig telepathically speaking to Issei**_ **]**

' **Ddraig/Powerful Being thinking** '

* * *

"... _What_ is that smell?"

Aika's voice drew a sheepish smile from an Apron-clad Issei as he brandished a frying pan full of an unidentifiable black gunk.

"Breakfast?"

The girl wrinkled her nose at that.

"What _exactly_ were you trying to make?"

Issei's shoulders hunched over dramatically, his foot drawing patterns on the ground as he mumbled.

" _They were meant to be pancakes..._ "

"How about..." Aika stopped mid-word to yawn and stretch, allowing the sweater Issei had given her to ride up and reveal her snug, pink panties, and the expanse of toned and sculpted legs that their daily workouts had granted her.

The girl noticed her boyfriend staring, prompting her to smirk before grabbing the waistband of said panties and slowly, tantalizingly shimmying them down her legs before stepping out of them, fully revealing her dewy rose, causing him to lick his lips hungrily.

She too licked her lips at the sight of the very noticeable tent on the apron. She looked up to see his reaction, only for a chill of excitement to run down her spine when she met his hungry gaze, goosebumps popping up all over her body.

Issei carelessly deposited the dirty frying pan on the sink, shedding the apron sometime in between the two strides needed to reach Aika. The girl gasped in surprise when her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up and planting atop the dining table.

He didn't hesitate to spread her thighs open and dive face-first into her gradually moistening snatch, his lips and tongue attacking her slit with the ferocity of a starved beast, causing her to reflexively grip his hair while soft, breathy moans broke through her lips.

Issei sped up his ministrations, adding a few fingers to the mix and causing Aika's moans to jump in volume, her eyes crossing lightly as she was caressed in ways that she only had ever been once before. She felt a warmth building up in her core, her breaths coming out more and more ragged as Issei's tongue and fingers explored her depths, before she was forced to take a hand to her mouth, biting her finger in order to suppress the loud groan-like moan that emerged from the back of her throat.

Aika came undone soon after, a high-pitched squeal filling the apartment while her trembling quim squirted hard enough to cover Issei's mouth and chin in her juices.

The brunet licked his lips, savoring the tangy taste of Aika's juices with little more that a flare of his nostrils to show for it, before flipping the semi-limp girl over onto her stomach and bending her over the edge of the table, leaving her feet barely hanging off of the ground and her lower body easily accessible to him.

He slid down his shorts, allowing his member to come into visibility, before positioning himself behind Aika. He rubbed his cock up and down the length of her slit, allowing her juices to build up on it and make his entrance easier, though it was like unnecessary given how wet she was in the first place.

Aika surprised Issei by gripping each of her cheeks and spreading them wide, giving him a full view of her holes, and making it even easier for him to line up the head of his prick with her twitching cunt. He pushed forward with the slightest amount of pressure, his eyes narrowing and a pleased hiss escaping his lips as Aika's hole all but sucked him in of its own volition, the twitching and pulsing walls massaging his head.

" _Hnng_."

A small grunt was all that indicated the thrust that hilted him in the girl, her own voice failing her for a moment at the intense and sudden sensation of fullness. She hissed as she felt his fleshy pole slowly pulling back, her own walls squeezing in a manner that made it seem as if they were reluctant to allow even an inch of his cock to retreat, though he did so regardless, rubbing at various different spots of her in the process that almost caused her to blank out.

A hard thrust hilted him again, her cheeks and the top of his thighs and hips connecting with a meaty smack, before he pulled back again, faster this time, and repeated the motion, gradually increasing his speed. Soon enough Issei was jackhammering into her drenched hole, his hips shifting angles ever so slightly with each thrust so that a different group of spots was hit per thrust, with the only thing keeping her from thrusting her own groin back towards him being the fact that her feet were off the ground, giving her no leverage to move.

Each of Issei's thrusts also resulted in his sack lightly smacking against Aika's uncovered nub of a clit, so between those things it wasn't really a surprise when the girl's eyes crossed, her back arching as both her lower holes were overcome by spasms. Issei felt himself grow closer, which prompted him to speed up further, mercilessly ignoring the spasms of Aika's hole as they seemingly attempted to keep him from pushing any further, though this time he added to the experience, each of his thrusts matched by him pulling Aika back by her waist.

"I'm close. Where do you want it?"

" _Inside!_ " The girl blubbered half-deliriously. " _Fill me!_ "

" _Fuck!_ "

Issei bottomed out within Aika before the first rope of cum blasted against her insides.

" _ **# $%* &!**_"

Aika hadn't stopped cumming ever since her first orgasm, with each of Issei's differently-angled thrusts and the smacks to her nub resulting in a continuous series of minor orgasms to roll over her, all of them steadily and gradually building up to a big one. Feeling Issei's warm jizm fill her up pushed her over the edge, causing the built-up pressure to _Explode_.

" _ **& % #*º+!**_"

Aika wailed her orgasm out like a wild beast, her head trashing to and fro and her hands gripping onto the wooden tabletop hard enough for her fingernails to leave indents, her back arching almost painfully as if she had been hit with thousands of volts of electricity while her eyes rolled in their sockets. Her cunt squirted so hard that the entirety of Issei's groin and thighs were soaked in her juices, while the muscles clamped down so hard that a normal man would've been unable to as much as move.

Issei simply stroked back and forth regardless, prolonging both of their orgasms for as long as possible and completely filling Aika's hole up.

Issei softly stroked Aika's back and hair as she came down from her peak, waiting for her to become coherent again before speaking up.

"Clench harder."

" _Uh-Wha-..._ "

"If I pull out of you right now, or if you relax around me, we're going to make an even bigger mess on the floor. Squeeze down tightly and I can carry you to the bathroom."

The girl nodded lightly at that before focusing hard, becoming fully aware of the fact that her limbs - and pretty much the rest of her body - had all the strength of limp noodles right at that moment, with her privates being the only parts of her that she could still exert force with. She squeezed down on Issei as hard as she could before nodding, prompting him to flip her around on his member so that they were now facing one-another.

He hooked his arms under the crook of her knees and over her shoulders, pulling her into a Full Nelson, before walking towards the bathroom with her still attached to him. He only nodded for her to release him and pulled away from her hole when they were in the shower stall, with the two of them watching intently as the thicker and denser parts of the mixture of fluids fell freely from her hole, while the thinner parts rolled down the inside of her thighs.

"That," Aika panted, "Was intense. Am I going to get such a treatment every morning? Because I'm not sure whether I love it, or dread it. Maybe a little bit of both. Okay, a _lot_ of both."

Issei planted a soft peck on Aika's lips, a smirk on his lips as he responded.

"It depends on how much you tease me on a particular day."

"Ah, I see. I just have to tease you a lot if I feel like getting banged into next day, got it. Such intuitive design..."

Aika responded to Issei's smirk with a smirk of her own, before tossing the hoodie she had been wearing out of the shower stall. Issei seemed to be on the same wavelength as her, having ditched his tank top and boxer shorts. The two showered together, dedicating equal amounts of time to cleaning up and to exploring each-other's body, though they didn't progress into sex, before towelling each-other dry.

They dressed together, not being bothered by each-other's nudity in the least, or by the idea of being nude themselves in the presence of the other, just moving around one-another with ease.

Aika had gone back to wearing her braids for simplicity and ease of maintenance, though they were much more tidy than she usually kept them, with no stray hairs poking out, and she was still wearing her contacts. She was dressed in the same sundress and panties she had been wearing the previous day - _after they took a trip to the laundromat of course_ \- with one of Issei's jackets over it to ward off the chill of autumn and her flats, while Issei himself was clad in only a red tee and black jeans, with similarly colored sneakers.

The brunet consulted his phone - _personal, not business_ \- before speaking.

"I gave Lilith a call while you were still in bed, and she'll be meeting us at the Kuoh Mall to help in the process of buying your stuff. Make a shopping trip of it."

"A shopping trip for your two girlfriends, one of which needs pretty much all basic necessities, and with both more than likely wanting to buy as many lewd outfits as possible... Are you sure it's alright? We won't be burning through your savings or anything, are we? Because I can get a part time to help pay off my stuff-"

"My account is pretty damn stuffed, so we don't need to worry about costs as long as we're not buying a super car every other week."

Aika raised a questioning eyebrow at Issei, prompting him to assuage her worries by opening his banking app and showing her the number associated to it, causing her other eyebrow to rise as well in surprise.

"That's... A lot of zeroes."

"My boss is one of the richest people in the country, and he pays me very well, so believe me when I tell you that we can be a bit loose with money. And if you get a part-time job, do it because you want to, not because you feel obligated to pay me back, or something like that, okay?"

"...Alright."

"Good. Now, are we good to leave?"

"Sure."

The two left the apartment only to end up meeting with Issei's neighbour, one Amano Yuuma, who met Aika's gaze for a moment before averting her own, a blush blooming on her cheeks as she spoke.

"G-good m-morning, Hyoudou-san, miss."

Issei blinked for a moment before speaking up.

"Ah, Aika, this is my neighbour, Amano Yuuma. Yuuma-san, this is Kiryuu Aika, one of my girlfriends. She'll be living with me as well from now on, for as long as she wishes to."

The girl bowed politely towards Aika, her tone still embarrassed as she spoke.

"P-pleasure to m-meet you, Kiryuu-san."

"Thank you very much, Amano-san."

Yuuma bowed towards Issei again, before scurrying into her home, allowing Issei and Aika to stroll away from the apartment complex. The two were in a comfortable silence for quite a while, before Aika spoke up.

"That Amano person..." Issei turned towards Aika, an eyebrow rising at the serious expression on her face as she spoke. "It feels like there's something wrong with her."

"What do you think it might be?"

Her brow furrowed as she thought back to the girl, trying to remember whatever it might be that set her suspicions off, only for a frown to manifest as she spoke.

"I don't know what it is. I don't know why I'm feeling like this... But I don't trust that girl. I think you should be very careful around her as well, Ise."

The brunet shrugged at that.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm perfectly safe even if she ends up being a weirdo, or dangerous, but I'll still be careful regardless."

The frown disappeared from Aika's face at that, replaced with a relieved sigh and smile as she spoke.

"Good. Now let's go meet up with Lilith!"

"Hai, hai!"

The two linked arms and walked on towards their goal, small talk flowing between the two, while Issei's thoughts went on a different track.

'You were even able to feel the strangeness about 'Yuuma'... Aika, your instincts are really something. At this rate, it won't take too long for her to figure me or Lilith out... I guess I need to tell her, Motohama and Matsuda soon... I just hope they're ready for it.'

* * *

Lilith raised a hand in greeting as soon as she saw the two of them, though she stopped before a word could have been said, sniffing the air in an almost imperceptible manner before turning a lecherous grin towards the arm-linked teens, her tone saucy and teasing as she spoke.

"Your first night in the same bed and you've already did the dirty?"

"You're wrong, actually." Issei said matter-of-factly.

"Oh?"

"We didn't sleep together yesterday night," Issei said with a nonchalant shrug that was matched by Aika's entertained grin. "We actually only got busy earlier today."

"Really? And what did the two of you do? Did she give you a wake-up blowjob? Did you turn it into wake-up irrumatio and give her a thick dose of milk for breakfast?"

Lilith's words had the eyes of any passer-by's widening in scandalized shock, while Issei and Aika stared at her in nonchalance and amusement respectively.

"No wake-up blowjobs yet because he wakes up _super_ early," Aika spoke, " _But_ he _did_ bend me over a table and drill me for all he's worth."

Lilith tilted her head.

"Did the table break?"

"Uh, no?" Aika responded in confusion.

"Then he didn't really drill you for all he's worth."

Aika gave Lilith an incredulous gaze before turning towards Issei, whose response came after a nonchalant shrug and with a pair of arms crossed over his chest.

"This was only your second time, and I didn't want to risk hurting you, or coming too late and wasting Lilith's free time until she has to return to her school."

Aika licked her suddenly dry lips, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke.

"You can do _more_?"

"Yeah, but that's not really important right now. What is important is that we need to eat breakfast, then buy everything you'll need if you're living with me."

"...Alright, but we _will_ return to this conversation. If there is a way you can make sex _more_ intense and pleasurable, then I want in on it."

Issei smiled at Aika, a hand falling atop her head and rubbing it softly as he spoke soothingly.

"If that is what you want, then who am I to say no?"

The girl blushed at the affectionate move, while Lilith smirked before taking hold of Issei's free arm.

"Alright, how about we go and have ourselves a good meal?"

* * *

"This... Wasn't really what I expected when you talked about having a meal."

Lilith released Issei's member from her mouth with a pop, nuzzling the shaft and taking a deep sniff before shifting her gaze towards Aika, whose hand had slid up her dress and was noticeably moving side to side.

"Ever since the first time I tasted his cum, I've been _completely hooked~ 3_ "

Her sentence was followed by her taking him back into her mouth and engulfing the entirety of his length with her throat, showing no signs of a gag reflex at all, something that left Aika extremely impressed, and Issei grunting lightly as he tried his best to keep silent.

"Still," Aika said, "Just pulling him into a bathroom stall and pulling down his pants was unexpected. Hot, for sure, but unexpected nonetheless. The fact that it's a girls' bathroom makes it even kinkier."

Lilith pulled Issei's member from her throat, allowing him to thrust against the inside of her cheek while she stroked the remainder of the shaft that was exposed to the air, before rolling her tongue around the head then popping it out of her mouth again, never stopping her strokes as she spoke in as sultry tone as she could, her eyes that were narrowed almost to the point of closing meeting Issei's own and conveying little more than extreme amounts of lust.

" _Oh, but the girls' bathroom offers so many different opportunities. Maybe we'll be caught by a dirty voyeur, Issei's thick, throbbing cock serving as masturbation bait for her. She'll probably picture herself in my place, allowing her hands and mouth to make sweet love to this monstrous thing, feeling the throbbing of the veins on her tongue as she glides it against the underside~ 3_ "

" _Fuck!_ "

Issei's hissed expletive was followed by him gripping the back of Lilith's head, shoving her face against his throbbing meat and rubbing her back and forth on it, as if using her soft skin to masturbate, while Aika's own masturbation increased in speed, forcing her to lean back against one of the stall walls in order to not lose her balance as she burned the events into her memory, ensuring that she would be able to replicate them if need be, and add them to her work.

Lilith, on the other hand, added to Issei's use of her as a masturbatory aid by softly dragging her tongue along his heavy testes, covering them in her saliva and nuzzling them, taking a good, deep whiff of his musk, causing her pupils to dilate, before she pulled back and spoke up again.

" _Maybe the girl won't limit herself to just watching. She would kneel down right beside me to worship this magnificent cock, kissing, licking, and loving it in the same way I am... In fact, even more girls could have caught us in the act, all of them deciding to join and share your cock amongst themselves. What do you think of that, Ise? Would you love having a group of girls you don't know su-_ "

Lilith was interrupted by the forceful intrusion of Issei's penis, with the brunet having given no mercy or quarter and thrusting all the way down her throat in one more, his hands gripping the sides of her head before he started thrusting fast and hand into her throat.

" _~3_ "

The purplette's reaction to the intrusion was to open her mouth wide and allow her boyfriend to basically use her throat as an Onahole, one of her hands fondly fondling his scrotum, while the other one went to work on her own nether parts, allowing her to rapidly approach an orgasmic peak.

" _Fuck, I'm cumming!_ "

Aika's whispered words were enough to push Issei over, prompting him to thrust in so deeply that Lilith's nose flattened against his groin as he unloaded, while both of his hands went down to her breasts and twisted her nipples semi-intensely over her clothes, causing her to come undone as well, an orgasmic shriek being suppressed purely by virtue of the cock clogging her throat.

Lilith felt a wave of euphoria hit her as each blast of Issei's seed settled within her stomach, with only the last remaining tatters of her consciousness allowing her to suppress the emergence of her horns and tail, which would have made things decidedly complicated and awkward with Aika.

Despite that, by the time Issei withdrew his rod from her mouth, she could only be said to be a mess. Her eyes had rolled up, an overflow of semen causing a few bubbles to emerge from her nose, and her tongue stretched out in what seemed to be an attempt at staying in contact with Issei and savoring his taste even more.

A classic _Ahegao_.

Issei and Aika gathered generous amounts of toilet paper and went to task in cleaning themselves up while they allowed Lilith to slowly come down from her high. Soon enough the purplette was sensate again, licking as much of the remaining cum from her lips as possible before using toilet paper to wipe herself clean of the evidence of their little session.

She stood up and planted a peck on Issei's lips, which the brunet easily reciprocated, before speaking.

"I've been hungry for a good helping for quite a while now, Ise, and that hit _just_ the right spot. Thanks."

"Anything for you, love." He turned towards Aika, his gaze meeting hers with nothing other than certainty. "Anything for the two of you. If you want it, I'll do my best to give it to you. If you need it, there won't be a force on earth capable of stopping me from getting it."

The two girls coincidentally stepped in to kiss him at once, resulting in a three-way-kiss that featured intense amounts of tongue action. The three separated slowly, each of them taking a moment to analyze the sensations they felt, before Aika spoke up.

"Even though I've been somewhat curious, I never felt the compulsion to really make out with other women, but this kiss felt... Good, in a different way." She turned a thoughtful gaze towards Lilith. "This bears more research."

"As much as I'd love to watch my two girlfriends experiment," Issei spoke up longingly, "We still have shopping to do, and we've already spent a while in here, so I'd suggest we save the experimentation for a different time, when we can all appreciate it fully."

The girls nodded their agreement, arranging themselves until they were decent again, before the three of them left the bathroom.

Unknown to them ( _?_ ) was the fact that all of their activities had been watched by a petite, white-haired middle school girl. Her eyes were wide, a massive blush covering her cheeks as her thighs rubbed against one-another without any conscious control or input, causing all sort of new and strange sensations to run through her body.

Koneko Toujou, the Rook of the Gremory peerage, squirmed in place, not sure if she is capable of even taking a step at the moment.

The girl had been keeping watch over the Hyoudou boy, as she had been ordered to, though she had been a certain distance from his apartment complex to avoid meeting up with the Fallen. She had watched them walk to the shopping from a certain distance, which kept her from listening in to their conversation, until they met up with the Succubus girl.

The three had talked for a while, before going into the shopping mall proper, with her following after them as discreetly as she could. She watched them walk together into the female restroom, pondering on whichever reason they could have, so she decided to follow them in to make sure that nothing untoward was happening, and to keep watch as she had been trusted to do by her king.

She had silently settled into the stall right beside the one they had gone into, and took their shuffling and whispering as evidence of them being distracted enough for her to peek in on them. The moment her face crested the barrier between stalls, though, was the exact same moment that the purple-haired girl pulled Hyoudou's... _Thing_... Out of his pants.

The sheer shock caused her to freeze, forcing her to watch as they did all sorts of _weird_ things, all the while this sort of _sweet scent_ filled her nostrils, forcing her to hold back her desire to purr, and to suppress her other side as it attempted to come out in the form of her tail and ears. She felt her nostrils flare as she took in more and more of the sweet scent, and her eyes focus on the sight of Hyoudou's _thick, throbbing, veiny thing..._ As it speared into the Succubus' throat and back out.

The girl's words had caused an odd pang within her chest, before the sight of him withdrawing from her mouth, a string of white connecting his rod to her lips, caused her to have to force back a moan. She then watched as the boy that had so _utterly_ abused the succubus as if she were as much as an object kiss her affectionately and promise to all but tear the world asunder if she wished him to, and she felt even _more_ odd feelings.

She had sat down at one of the western-styled toilets of the Kuoh mall - _more than likely a consequence of the presence of devils in the town as influential figures on the monetary and investment side of things_ \- as silently as she could while trying to parse through all of the new feelings. As her thighs rubbed against one-another and her chest felt as if it were being much too constrained, though, she felt this heat building up within her that she never had even known existed.

Soon enough this heat reached a peak, one of her hands involuntarily travelling towards her crotch and the other one towards her chest, though she knew not what either of them were supposed to be doing, while soft whimpers and moans escaped her mouth as her tensed extremely, before relaxing all at once, leaving her limp on her seat.

She took some time to recover, a moist feeling between her legs prompting her to poke it with a finger.

'Slick, but also sticky...'

She rubbed the substance between her fingers almost absent-mindedly before her sanity seemed to find her again, prompting her to wipe herself clean as well, before retreating from the mall, feeling that it was the best option for the moment.

'Those weird feelings... Should I go to Buchou about them?'

That idea made her feel uncomfortable, as did the the thought of going to Akeno or Yuuto.

'I can't go to them... But I want to know what this feeling is... It seems I will have to keep an even closer watch over Hyoudou Issei if I wish to learn more...'

That thought alone caused Koneko to blush, while some of the heat that she had gotten rid of returned to the lower part of her torso.

She decided right then and there to retreat for the day and avoid thinking about the brunet's broad shoulders, his expressive brown eyes, and his thick, _throbbing-_

* * *

"So, what do you think?"

Issei's response to the sheer nightgown Aika was modelling for him was stand up, take a couple of strides towards her and pull her into a kiss that had a few of the shop's attendants fanning themselves to avoid overheating.

This wasn't the first time it happened either. Every time either one of the girls tried something on, the boy would stride towards them and pull them into a deep kiss. It didn't matter if they chose the skimpiest, sauciest outfits, or if they jokingly tried on a pair of granny panties and a formless dress that looked more like a think roll of cloth that reacher the ankles, he would still do it.

Personally, the sales attendant that had been working with them thought this was just a strategy the boy created to not have to honestly tell either girl his opinion on any piece of clothing, good or bad. Every time he kissed one of them, the questions over the outfit would stop, and said girl would either add the outfit to the purchase pile, or back to the discard pile without asking him any follow up questions, meaning that if that _was_ indeed his plan, it was _most_ _definitely_ working.

"Alright Ise," Lilith spoke up from within the changing room - _a small crack in the curtain angled so that Issei and Issei alone could peek in_ \- as she helped Aika out of one of the bras she had tried on. "We're done with Aika's sleepwear and underwear. Now we just need to go get her school wear, lounge wear and formal wear, and we can move onto getting school supplies."

"Fair enough. It's you girls' day after all."

A mischievous smirk came over Aika's face as she spoke up.

"I guess we could use the opportunity to get Ise to model in- I mean, try on some stuff for him as well, no?"

Issei's eyes widened in surprise, only for Lilith to nod sagely.

"Of course, we can't lose this opportunity to gawk at eye-can- that is to say, to help our boyfriend try out different styles of dress and see what works, and what doesn't."

Issei opened his mouth to protest, but before a single work could have left his lips, the two girls had already turned two synchronized pairs of puppy dog eyes on him, causing any denial to die on his lips.

"...Alright, fine, no need to look at me like that!"

The shop attendants tittered in collective amusement at the teen's quick capitulation, before all of their eyes widened at the veritable mountain of clothes that the purple-haired girl dumped on the checkout counter.

"Ise, you were the one to invite us for a shopping trip, so you'll be fielding this one."

The brunet shrugged at that.

"Fair enough." He turned towards the lady at the check out counter, "How much will the total come to, miss?"

The woman scanned all the tags before grimacing, a tap of the Enter key displaying the total sum of ¥160816,50 .

She was about to suggest they trim down on their choices when Issei withdrew a black credit card from his wallet, causing the eyes of all shop attendants to all but pop out.

After that there was no hesitation or questions asked, the girls brought items to the counter, and the young man paid.

The same thing occurred in the next few stores, with Aika commissioning her school uniform at a high-class tailor, and Issei paying for the fastest package, which meant the uniform would be ready no more than 2 hours after, before they went to purchase street/casual/lounge wear for both girls, as well as quite a few shoes.

After that they headed towards a sporting goods store, where Aika and Lilith teased Issei by trying the tightest sports bras they could comfortably wear, as well as a myriad of shorts and pants in formfitting spandex.

Then, they forced him into one of the booths before tossing an outfit in.

"...Do I really have to wear this?"

"Aww come on, Ise, give your girls a bit of eye-candy~"

"Alright, fine, but don't laugh!"

Their conversation had the other shoppers' attention, their curiosity pushing them stare at the group as the trying room's curtains slid open, revealing a view that left almost everybody stunned.

Issei was clad in nothing other than a red speedo, revealing the full expanse of his chiseled body - _including his scars_ \- and making the outline of his member pronounced to the extreme.

"Hubba Hubba, Aika likey. How about you give us a spin?"

Issei sighed before complying with the request, doing a slow spin that had all of the store staring, before one of the store's workers walked up to them and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, but that sort of dress is not allowed outside the dressing room and with the curtains drawn. Store policy, to protect the children, you see..."

Aika and Lilith pouted simultaneously while Issei sighed in relief at no longer running the risk of simply ripping through the sole piece of clothing he had been wearing as he strolled back to the changing room.

He was changed back in less than 2 minutes before they all went for a bite at the food court. After that was swinging by stationary stores to pick up pens, pencils, ink pots and brushes, and various different types of notebooks and paper sheets, before they headed to a shoe store. Issei watched Aika and Lilith debate the merits of a pair of nigh identical shoes before he ended the discussion by just buying both. After that was a trip to the optometrist, to get Aika a new pair of glasses. They then finished by going back to the tailor and picking up Aika's new uniforms.

After that they swung through an ice cream store, each of them picking up a cone, before Lilith spoke up.

"So, do we have anything else to do, or are we done?"

"Well..." Lilith affected a tone of Faux innocence as she sidled up to Issei, her shoulder brushing against his. "We _could_ visit this... _Specialty_ store in the third floor..."

Issei paused for a moment, before he and Aika spoke up at the same time.

"You mean the sex shop?"

"You mean the sex shop?"

The two traded looks, before turning towards Lilith who sighed with exaggerated aggravation.

"Fine, ruin my teasing fun." She took another lick of her ice cream, savoring it for a moment, before turning back to the two of them. "Yes I mean the sex shop."

"Huh." Issei rubbed his chin. "Normally I would've remembered to do something like this, but I guess I was so distracted I forgot..."

"How are we getting them to let us minors in, though?"

Aika stopped for a few seconds after having asked the question, before the three of them spoke up.

"My black card, of course."

"Money opens many doors."

"Of course it's money, don't forget your origins, me!"

Having made a decision, the headed towards the shop. A worker intended to stop them at the door, only for a sight of Issei's black card to result in him _having been distracted for a moment_ while the three teens slipped into the store.

"Okay," Lilith spoke up, "We spread out and see what we want, get together at the counter, eliminate duplicates and figure out what more we could want?"

Issei and Aika nodded their agreement before the three split up around the store, each of them checking out the articles on display with the seriousness of a nuclear safety inspector making an in-depth check.

After a 15 minutes of browsing, Aika and Lilith had already reached the counter, talking quietly in front of the surprised cashier.

Before the cashier could make any sort of comment regarding their ages, a large box was placed right in front of them, surprising them utterly.

Issei emerged from around the box, looking at the brown paper bags the girls had their things in.

"So, Lilith, Aika, what did you two get?"

Lilith was the first one to speak up.

"I got butt play stuff. Cleaning supplies and lube, mainly, but they were complemented by two sets of butt plugs, one in plastic, the other one in metal. Both have a gradual escalation in plug size. I'll be training myself for butt stuff, and giving Aika the opportunity to do so if she wishes to ."

The cashier's eyes widened at that, only for Aika to speak up, causing them to widen further.

"I got a few dozen pill vibes and this!" She revealed a 7 inch rubber dildo. "I figured out that the first thing I need to build up is the stamina to last longer when having sex with, so my intent is to have the vibes on my nipples, clit and inside me as often as possible, to make myself more resistant to the stimulation. The vibes also have remote controllers, in case I want to hand control over to you, Ise, for some sort of sex play. Maybe a public sex play.

"The dildo is for oral training. It's noticeably smaller than you, but it should be more than enough to get me started on learning how to suppress my gag reflex, and stuff like that. And you... What do you have in that box there?"

"Oh, this?" Issei said nonchalantly while thumping the side of the box. "It's just the sex swing I'll be installing in our living room."

Aika's gaze snapped towards Issei before turning back to the box with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. She looked towards her own purchases before looking back towards the sex swing, conviction marking her gaze.

The cashier was about to speak up about how minors weren't supposed to be there only for a black credit card to be shoved almost literally in his face, causing their attitude to take a 180 degree into full happiness, and the desire to sell more. Unfortunately for the cashier, the three weren't willing to buy anything else at the moment, so they simply paid and left. Carrying all the bags they had to would've usually been a hassle, so they decided to move smaller things into first the sex swing box, then into the bigger, easier to carry bags, until they had few enough bags to not be a hard time carrying.

After that Issei and Aika escorted Lilith back to her school campus, then made their way back to their home. The first thing they did after arriving was separating all of Aika's clothes and send them down to wash and dry, before ironing them, and arranging them into Issei's spacious dresser.

After all of that was done, and Aika was set up in all ways, Issei went on to install the sex swing right next to the couch, for flexibility of play, while Aika put every toy they bought through a few rounds of disinfectants.

By the time they were done night had already fallen for a good while, so the two of them ordered dinner in, before the two of them made the choice to bathe together.

They first took turns using the shower, washed each other's backs, and then slid into the hot furo, luxuriating in it. Aika started rubbing her feet against Issei's, prompting him to respond in kind. Soon after they were rubbing each other's genitals within the tub. The left as the water started cooling, toweling each other off again, but rather than getting dressed, they decided to hop into bed completely naked.

They snuggled together, Issei playing big spoon to Aika's small, before the girl mumbled.

" _You're poking me, Ise._ "

" _Teenage hormones and a very beautiful woman in my arms will result in this sort of result._ "

" _...Stick it in me, Ise._ "

" _Whoa, where did that come from?_ "

" _Lilith told me that I can't handle you going all out, but I want to know generally how far behind I am from you in terms of stamina, so slip me some D,_ hard _, and fuck me to oblivion._ "

Issei shifted in place, positioning his rod at the entrance of Aika's gash, before speaking up.

" _If I get going, I won't stop. Are you still sure you want to do this?_ "

The girl took a resulte breath at that.

" _Do it._ "

As soon as those words were said, Issei slipped into Aika, drawing a gasp from the girl, before he started thrusting. While at first the girl could hold on, she ended up ultimately losing it after her fith orgasm, yet Issei did not stop.

It was _not_ an option at that moment.

For the first time, Aika got a real taste of Issei's stamina.

And like that the night rolled on, with the brunet only stopping at 4 in the morning, leaving Aika completely insensate, and his bed completely filthy.

He shrugged all of that off, pulling the girlfriend he had forced to orgasm until unconsciousness flush against his bare chest before pulling the covers over them, deciding to give their physical training a break for the purpose of recovery.

* * *

 _ **-CHAPTER, END!-**_

 **Heyo, FrancoGamerxz here! I just want to first say that everyone that has ready my story so far rocks! Thank you for your continued support!**

 **Now, onto the AN. As you've probably read in the last chapter, I happen to have joined a chat room for those who write, read, and overall appreciate fiction, be it fanfiction, or original fiction. If you write fanfics or original stories, read fanfics or original stories, and/or work as a beta, feel free to join our little community at:**

" **dis cord -dot- gg -slash- V54pcwA "**

 **I'm out, now! Later dudes!**


	35. Home Visit

**Hello, and welcome. I am, as you may well know, the Author, and I have come to tell you a story. It is the tale of…**

 **The League of Legendary Contributors.**

 **The League of Legendary Contributors have performed Legendary deeds throughout the entirety of existence, and the Galaxy forever remembers them for this.**

 **Joshua G., Shen, FromTheDeep and Tyric Gaia are the current roster of this most exemplary group of heroes!**

 **If you too wish to join the League and become immortalized as a hero, then feel free to do so at " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz ".**

 **Now, onto the story!**

* * *

"Regular character speech"

" _Differently inflectioned character speech_ " (Whispering, hissing, etc)

' **Powerful character speech** ' (Backed by Killing Intent, Pressure, Sheer raw power, etc)

'Regular character thoughts'

' _Mind Reading/Telepathic Conversation_ '

 **[Ddraig talking out loud]**

 **[** _ **Ddraig telepathically speaking to Issei**_ **]**

' **Ddraig/Powerful being thinking** '

* * *

Lunch break had come around to the students of Kuoh Academy, allowing them to vacate their classrooms en masse, heading towards the spot they found themselves the most comfortable eating at. For some, said spot was the roof, for others, the cafeteria, some hung around the hallways of the school, with a few students choosing to eat at their club rooms, or classrooms.

For a particular group of Kuoh High School Division students, the lunch spot was underneath a large tree in the center of one of the School's courtyards.

It was at that spot that Hyoudou Issei, the 'leader' of said group, lied down, his head resting on the lap pillow provided by one of the Four Great Onee-sama of Kuoh, Himejima Akeno - _something that gained the envy and scorn of many a student of the Academy, be they male or female_ \- who simply chuckled in amusement at the delightfully pained faces many of their classmates made whenever she chose to stroke Issei's hair.

Next to them were Motohama and Matsuda, Issei's best friends, who were focusing less on the rest of the eyes turned towards them, and more on whichever philosophical, moral and/or ethical dilemma that two sagely, cultured men such as themselves would be expected to concern themselves with- " _It's gotta be striped panties!_ " " _Striped? No, Animal print is where it's at!_ " - at any given date.

Completing the image was one Kiryuu Aika, who had chosen to make use of the lunch break to shamelessly and unhesitatingly lie atop Issei's body, her face nuzzling his neck as she took a nap.

The president of the Occult Research Club, one Rias Gremory, sat behind her desk within her clubroom, the magical circle for a Remote Viewing spell allowing her to witness this scene. She raised a hand to her chin, a small frown on her face as various thoughts revolved around her mind.

'You have no idea about the type of headache you've brought me so far, Hyoudou Issei. You remind me of _him_ , and that makes me want to despise you, but… Both Sona and Akeno vouch for you, and they wouldn't do so if you were _like him_. Plus…'

A twirl of her fingers caused the image being shown by the magical circle to change, zooming into the close-eyed face of the brunet young man.

'Can someone as contemptible as _Raiser_ look so peaceful in their sleep?'

Rias allowed herself to watch Issei's sleeping face for a while more, before reaching a decision.

'I'll push aside my prejudice, and wait for Koneko's opinion in order to make a choice. Until then, I'll simply focus on the fulfillment of contracts, so that if it does come down to a Peerage battle, we're powerful enough to face _him_.'

Rias cut off the stream of magic she had been sending to the spell, allowing it to fade away into motes of light, before turning back to her paperwork, sorting out the pamphlets to be spread around by her, Yuuto and Akeno's familiars, and parsing through those who had already sent requests to them.

Unseen and unnoticed by her, Issei's right eye cracked slightly for an instant, before closing again as he went back to enjoying his relaxed snoozing alongside his friends.

* * *

 _ **BOOM!**_

Issei dodged Butsu's punch, taking a short hop backwards to avoid the small crater it had made on the ground underneath them, before ducking to avoid a sword slash from Ginei.

The college-aged swordsman proceeded to release a barrage of slashes, each of them backed by an arc of compact, rock-hard snow, which Issei bobbed and weaved through, responding by stepping into Ginei's guard and aiming a punch towards his chest.

Ginei considered intercepting the punch with the bladed edge of his sword for all of an instant, before his instincts told him that would be a bad idea, causing him to instead block with the flat side of the Nodachi, which resulted in him being blasted away at high speed.

Issei felt moreso than he saw the snow that had packed up underneath and around him rise up, condensing and reshaping itself until Issei was surrounded by a small group of four snow mannequins, each of them armed with a different weapon made of ice.

A tilt of his head allowed the weight of one of the Mannequin's Kusarigama to sail past him harmlessly, before he sidestepped a downward slash from a particularly vicious-looking Naginata bearing a jagged blade. He jumped over a low sweep from an ice version of a Kanabo, stepping on the shoulder of the snowman that swung it in the first place and using him as a platform to jump off of and avoid the strike of a pair of snow Tonfa.

" _ **BUTSU BREAK!**_ "

A swipe of Issei's arm deflected Butsu's strike at the wrist, before an elbow to the chest pushed the oni back a few feet.

" _ **Yukigumo!**_ "

A familiar cloud of snow surrounded Issei, greatly reducing his visual range, before the sounds of raging winds reached his ears, likely with the intent to further reduce his ability to track his opponents.

'Mhm… I know the snow cloud is Ginei's, but the blizzard noises are likely Kasumi's. Not bad at all.'

Those factors still weren't enough to keep Issei from dodging the sickle of the icy kusarigama of one of the mannequins. That was followed up by him blocking consecutive strikes of ice tonfa, before deflecting the ice tonfa so that it intercepted the jagged edge of the ice naginata.

"Ha!"

A particularly harsh stomp from Issei was enough to blast the snowmen away from him and to disperse the snow cloud from around him, which gave him an instant to register the fact that Butsu was _very_ close to him.

 _ **WHAM!**_

Issei's feet dug a pair of furrows on the ground as he slid to a stop, his crossed arms throbbing lightly from having been hastily raised to block Butsu's punch. Said Oni dashed towards Issei again, his fists encased in a black glow, before he released a barrage of punches that Issei responded with punches of his own, the repeated clashing of their fists releasing a series of small shockwaves that caused the hair and clothes of those nearby to shake and wave, as well as any of the plants, blades of grass and tree branches that managed to survive the clashes.

" **BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS!** "

The Oni's horns glowed in an intense light before the glow around both of his fists became more intense. That was followed by the disappearance of the glow around his left fist, which was then followed by an even higher intensification of the one around his right fist.

The concentration of Butsu's power caused the air around the two of them to gain a certain weight to it, squashing the grass underneath them to get crushed into the ground, before the ground itself depressed around them in a spherical shape.

" **BUTSU WIN!** "

The Oni cocked back his fist with the intent to strike out at Issei, only for his eyes to widen. His head tilted downward, allowing him to see the fist embedded in his stomach, before he coughed out a wad of blood, his eyes rolling back before his whole body was blasted away, ending up in an unconscious heap a few feet away.

" _ **BLAZE WALL!**_ "

A handful of orange-glowing magical circles appeared in front of Issei, causing his eyes to widen in surprise and forcing him to jump back a few dozen feet.

 _Swish._

 _ **CLANG!**_

Ginei's eyes, which had already widened in surprise when Issei _somehow_ managed to duck in order to avoid the attack he had aimed at him from behind, widened further when his blade suddenly stopped in middair, the sound that reached his ears and the trembling that ran down his arms making it seem as if he had struck a weapon or obstacle of some sort.

This assessment was validated when Suzushi suddenly appeared across from him, the pair of ice war fans in her hands being the only reason as to why Ginei's sword didn't reach her.

The two separated at that, Ginei's eyes still wide in surprise.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Suzushi shouted, "YOU ALMOST TOOK MY DAMN HEAD OFF!"

"I didn't know you were there!"

" _That was the point!_ " Suzushi spoke, her tone frigid and tight. "I had the fox hide me so I could strike at him without him noticing me, but then you had to go and ruin that plan!"

"Hey, it's not my fault! You were _literally_ invisible, _and_ you didn't warn me of your plan, so how was I supposed to know?"

"It was such a simple plan to figure out that even an idiot like you should've noticed."

"Idiot!? Why you-!"

The two were interrupted when a fist met each of their guts, blowing them away as well, though they were still conscious. The two managed to - _slowly and painfully_ \- turn their heads towards Issei, who sighed out loud and shook his head, before pointing a finger towards the two of them.

"The two of yo-"

 _ **BOOM!**_

Suzushi and Ginei's eyes widened when an explosion engulfed Issei, a torrent of flames springing up in a torrent of rage confined to that specific area.

"I dit it!"

They turned towards the sweat-drenched form of Kasumi, their eyes widening, while the Kitsune shot a smug smirk towards the two of them, pointing a thumb at her own chest in pride before speaking in a boastful voice.

"I finally did what all of you failed to do, and defeated him! Even after all of you made me waste a chunk of energy helping you, what with adding a few illusory fists to Butsu's barrage to force Issei to waste more energy defending, generating the blizzard noises to confuse him in the cloud of snow, and even making Suzushi _invisible_ and _inaudible_ , I managed to defeat him using only a magical circle hidden by an illusion to catch him by surprise!"

Ginei pointed in Kasumi's direction, his tone hesitant as he spoke.

"I-Issei-"

"Issei's _fine_!" Kasumi interrupted him in a nonchalant voice, waving her hand dismissively all the while. "You all felt how powerful he is! He shouldn't be _too_ hurt! He's tough, you know?"

" _Flattery gets you nowhere~_ "

Kasumi's eyes widened at the sound of Issei's voice whispering into her ear, but before she could have reacted, she felt a hand wrapping around the back of her neck, causing a nervous chill to go down her back.

She wiggled in place for a moment, only to stop when the grip around her neck became slightly tighter, before speaking in a shocked, incredulous tone.

"My Illusion hid the magical circle from view and hearing, and all of the magic that we've been slinging around should have left enough residue to hide it, so how-"

"Did I notice? Simple. Ginei and Suzushi's magic made this surrounding area noticeably cooler. In such an environment, it wasn't difficult to feel a small wave of warmth suddenly coming into existence underneath my feet."

"I-Bu- _Wha-_ How do you even notice something as minor as that!?"

"Practice."

Issei released Kasumi's neck, with the girl's legs failing as soon as they touched the ground, allowing her to slide down to her knees. He called out to Daichi, who had been busy working with weights while the others sparred with him, and had him lift and carry Butsu towards them. After awakening the oni, and ensuring that all of the others were focused on him, Issei spoke.

"You guys know about these sources I talked about, the ones that informed me about the shady stuff that's been going on around the country?" The others nodded, remembering the first meeting they had with him. "Well, I've been working with them in order to figure out what's happening. They're busy putting out fires, so they have me do the legwork for them. I made a deal with them so that I got pay in the form of money, artifacts, spells, or other such things with value equivalent to the danger, duration and importance of the mission."

Issei let his gaze glide over each member of his team, registering their reactions to his words so far, before continuing.

"I'm sure you're curious as to why I'm telling you guys this, no?" They all reacted with varying degrees of interest, prompting him to go on. "I am telling you all of this because another stipulation in our deal was that I got to bring a team into the whole thing, and that my team got rewarded for their work, just as I am."

Issei paused, taking in the wide-eyed surprise of the others for a moment, before proceeding.

"This fight was the first time you guys showed some semblance of teamwork. Attacking in tandem, trying to box me in and cut off my avenues of action, pulling back when the heavy hitter initiated and focusing on providing support for him, you guys were good enough to make me want to bring you with me, to get you into your first mission."

Issei gave the group a moment of happiness, allowing Suzushi to smirk smugly, Kasumi to give a foxy grin, Ginei to nod with a level of seriousness unbefitting of the manner in which he hugged Kasumi's tails to his body as if plush toys, Daichi to twiddle his fingers fretfully, and Butsu to give his fists an intense look before giving a grin that could only be described as 'horrifying', likely thinking about all of his future fights-

"Until you fucked it all up in the end."

-before ruthlessly bursting their bubble.

"Butsu, you know I'm fast and strong enough to do serious damage to you, but you still chose to use a charge attack that left you open to my own attacks. Kasumi, Suzushi, neither of you thought of making use og your ranged options to keep me busy, and allow Butsu to actually release his attack.

"Ginei, you still have the problem of being a slow starter, unable to instantly ramp up from base to full strength, plus, you need to learn how to best get involved in messy melee situations. When I was being attacked by the snow mannequins - _nice move by the way, Suzushi_ \- there were holes and openings inbetween their attacks that you could've made use of to join the fight and dogpile me. You need to learn the flow of battle better.

"Suzushi, Kasumi, the sneak attack plan was pretty good, but you need to ensure that you either communicate that sort of plan to the rest of your team in order to avoid crossfire, or to enact them in a way that will leave your team out of the line of fire.

"Kasumi, pay more attention to your surroundings. Don't celebrate your victory too early, or you'll regret it. And for the love of all that is good, if your teammates are staring behind you and pointing with wide eyes and gaping mouths, _move the fuck out of the way!_

"Other than those specific failures from each of you, you need to focus greatly on _teamwork_ , _comprehension_ , on the ability to read each-other's pace, and on how to set up a synchronous _flow_ in the battlefield. We're done for today, so feel free to go."

The members of the group had started walking off on their own paths when Issei spoke again.

"By the way, find disguises that can handle a beating. I may not thing you're ready _just yet_ , but that could change."

Having said that, Issei walked off while waving the others goodbye over his shoulder, already having plans for the rest of his weekend.

* * *

" _Oh, Ise~_ "

" _You like it when I touch you right there, don't you, Aika?_ "

" _Mhm... I love it~_ "

Issei's response turned into a grunt before it could leave his mouth, a consequence of Lilith's lips kissing the back of his shoulder while her hands wrapped around his bare torso, her fingers taking the time to explore his toned abs.

"Oh, I could grate cheese on these..."

Issei turned his head around and gave Lilith a kiss that even the french would consider excessive, before pulling back and nipping at the girl's bare neck.

It was not just her neck that was bare, though, as her upper body was clad only in a bra, the clasp of which was already unfastened and just waiting to be pulled away. Aika, who was trapped between Issei's body and his couch, was wearing only her skirt and a loose sweater, the lack of a bra allowing Issei's hand to explore her body under the piece of clothing.

 _ **Jingle**_

 _ **Clink**_

"Hello, Ise-..."

It was to this scene that Mama and Papa Issei, who had decided to pay their son a visit, walked into.

The two adults stared at the teenagers in shocked silence, an emotion that was reciprocated by the teens. Before anyone else could say a thing, Issei spoke up, his gaze unflinchingly meeting that of both of his parents as he did.

"This is _exactly_ what it looks like."

* * *

"So... You came to visit."

"Indeed."

The exchange between Issei and his mother, Miki, was followed upon by more silence, while his father, Gorou, and his girlfriends, Aika and Lilith, squirmed in place, each of them feeling as if the pressure in the room was about to squash them flat in their seats.

Issei and Miki held each other's gaze for a long while, both of them affecting a neutral face, before Issei spoke.

"Would the two of you like something to drink?"

"Yes!" Gorou spoke up hurriedly, wishing to break the tense standoff between his wife and son, "Yes we would!"

Issei nodded at that.

"Water, juice or Hetap?"

"Water, please!"

Issei nodded towards Gorou before turning to Miki, who met his gaze silently until Gorou nudged her.

"Water for me as well."

"Alright."

Issei shuffled into his kitchen, leaving his parents behind with his extremely nervous girlfriends.

Said girlfriends got even more nervous when Issei's mother fixed them with an intense gaze, causing them to silently squirm in place even harder, all the while Issei's father gave them a mix of inquiring and apologetic looks.

"You," Miki spoke up suddenly and with a finger pointing towards Lilith, causing the other three in the room to jump in their seats, "I know. You are Lilith, Issei's girlfriend."

She turned towards Aika, her hands bridging together and covering the lower part of her face as she spoke.

"You, though... I do not know who you are."

Aika took a deep breath, steeling herself before addressing the two adults, her tone as calm and smooth as she could possibly make it as she spoke.

"I am Kiryuu Aika, Issei's other girlfriend." She gave the two of them a respectful bow after that. "Please take care of me."

Miki prepared to speak, only for Gorou to call out in a startled shout.

" _OTHER GIRLFRIEND!?_ "

"Yes." Issei said as he walked back into the room. He placed a pitcher and two glasses filled with water on the table in front of his parents, seating himself back in between the two girls, and wrapped an arm around the shoulders of each. "Both Lilith and Aika are my girlfriends."

"And you're sexually active."

Miki's words were a statement rather than a question, but Issei still took the time to give his mother an assenting nod, which was mirrored by Lilith and Aika, though the two girls were somewhat more hesitant, and bore noticeably matching blushes.

"Have you been using protection?"

"Unfailingly."

" _Good._ " Miki let out a loud, long sigh of relief at that. "At least you're being careful."

"Err…" Gorou raised his hand, as if he were a student in a classroom, his confusion evident in his tone. "Will somebody _please_ explain… Whatever it is that is happening? Because I am utterly and genuinely confused."

"Harem plan is a go, dad."

"!"

Gorou reeled back at those words, his eyes wide in incredulity.

"W-what?"

"It is as you heard, dad. I finally did it."

Issei allowed his arms to leave the shoulders of his girlfriends as he leaned forward in his seat, his eyes shining brightly with an inner light as he took his father's hands into his own. Though his voice came soft, it still carried in it a triumphant note.

"I have done what every man dreams of at one point or another in their lives, though only very few have ever successfully accomplished. I have fallen in love with wonderful women who not only are 'okay' with the _**Harem Plan**_ , but who have made the choice to _help me_ achieve it."

"MY SON!"

Gorou pulled Issei into a proud hug, tears streaming freely down his face as he spoke.

"You truly are a man amongst men! Few are the times where I have felt as happy and proud in my life as I am now, after hearing these words!" Gorou pushed Issei back, allowing the gazes of the two men to meet. "The day I met your mother. The day I married your mother. The day we discovered your mother was pregnant with you. The day you were born. Those were, and still are, amongst the best days in my entire life. However, the knowledge that _my son_ was the one to successfully walk the path of the ultimate enlightenment… This is the fifth best day of my life!"

The man paused for a moment, before mumbling to himself.

" _Well, there was that birthday when Ise slept over at the Shidous' and Miki invited her three college friends…_ "

He shook his head clear of those _wonderful_ memories, refocusing on his son.

"Not only do I find out my son has already been made into a man, but that he is, indeed, a _**Man**_ amongst men... We must celebrate!"

He proceeded to wrap an arm around Issei before turning towards his wife.

"We'll be going on a manly celebration!"

"Very well," Miki said with a nod. "It will give me time to _talk_ to my… _Daughters-in-law_."

Lilith and Aika gulped nervously at those words, the two of them shooting Issei pitiful looks, while the young man himself could only respond with a helpless shrug as his father dragged him out of the apartment, the door coming to a close behind them.

"So, girls," Miki said with a wide smile that had the two teenage girls shaking in place, while involuntarily giving nervous smiles in response. "How about we get to know each-other better?"

* * *

"Hey, old man..." Gorou looked down towards the son that he still held in a sort of hybrid hug-headlock, only for said son to flash him a thumbs up. "Nice acting!"

"Just following your lead, Ise!" Gorou responded with a thumbs up and a grin of his own, though said grin turned into a thoughtful frown as he spoke. "Wasn't it a bit mean though, leaving your girlfriends to deal with your mother on their own?"

"Lilith and Aika are big girls, they can take care of themselves. Plus, it was inevitable for mom to get any girl I date - _girls, really_ \- into a private talk. By making sure that this 'talk' happened right now, we made sure that mom didn't have any ammunition as far as picking on them goes, as all of my research of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships go."

"Alright, first of all, anime doesn't count as research. Second, unlike entertainment media loves to tell you kids, a mother-in-law doesn't make it her life's mission to nitpick at every little thing their daughter-in-law does and says."

 _ **-X-**_

" _Do either of you girls know how to cook?"_

 _Lilith and Aika laughed sheepishly, beads of sweat running down the backs of their necks._

 _ **-X-**_

"Are you _sure?_ " Issei asked dubiously.

"Absolutely. Now tell me how you think we should celebrate." Issei gave Gorou a surprised look at those words, prompting the man to snort. "What, you thought I was kidding? You, my son, have become a man in all the ways that matter. You have a home to call your own, a job that pays the bills and lets you be self-sufficient, and not one, but _two_ women that can satisfy any cravings for affection and company that you possess, and vice-versa. If that by itself doesn't deserve a celebration, then I don't know what does!"

"Well, if we're gonna celebrate, then I know just the right place!"

* * *

" _And then I said…_ "

" _...namoto, the dude from Kyushu…_ "

" _...And then I stuck my finger in! Hahahahaha!_ "

Between the fact that it was located in the red light district, had an assortment of bikes arrayed out front, and had a rough 'feel' to it, "The Hammered Dwarf" seemed, to Issei, like the sort of place that his run-of-the-mill accountant father would do his absolute best to avoid.

" _This brings back memories…_ "

Which is why Issei was so surprised by the reminiscing tone in his voice, and the nostalgic look in his eyes as he took in sight of the bar.

"Have you ever been here before, dad?"

Gorou looked away from the bar and back towards Issei, a nostalgic smile still on his face as he responded.

"I've never been to _this_ particular bar, but I _have_ been to this sort of rough-and-tumble bar before, a long time before you were ever born…" The man had a faraway gaze for a moment, before allowing his focus to return to his son. "But that's a story for another day. For now, we should go in and celebrate your graduation to adulthood!"

The man didn't hesitate to slam the doors of the bar open before calling out loud.

"A round of drinks on me!" Gorou's sudden and surprising words galvanized the whole bar, resulting in him getting shouts and exclamations of happiness, or even just a silent raise of a glass from all of the strangers inside. Gorou's own mood took an upswing at that response, prompting him to wrap an arm around Issei's shoulders and tug him into full view of the bar. "My son has become a man!"

All of the previous noise stopped, resulting in a sense of shocked surprise engulfing the bar.

"It's been a while since you've come here," A voice called out in a smooth, rich baritone. When Gorou looked towards the source of the voice in curiosity, he noticed the fact that it had come from the bald black man behind the bar, who had a towel slung over his shoulder, "Issei. Or, should I call you _**Dragon**_?"

"Sup, bossman!" Issei said casually with a hand raised in greeting, "It's definitely been a hot minute since I swung by. And I'd rather prefer Issei, thanks."

" _Heh…_ " The man chuckled, before addressing Issei again. "So, not only do you show up when you're on 'break', but you also do so without giving a call beforehand, _and_ in the daytime hours. What's the special occasion?"

Gorou looked from the man behind the bar - _the name tag read Andre_ \- to Issei, repeatedly, confusion obvious in his gaze. Issei noticed this, which prompted him to clarify things a bit.

"Dad, this is the bar I work at, 'The Hammered Dwarf', and the man behind the bar is the owner of the bar/the boss, Andre." Issei then allowed his gaze to sweep across the bar, before calling out loud. "And these are ' _The Guys_ '; Boss, 'Guys', this is my dad."

Issei's words broke the silence that had engulfed the bar, prompting its various members to manifest themselves.

"Oh, _Dragon-san!_ "

Issei felt his eyebrow twitch.

" _It's the Dragon!_ "

His cheek was the one to twitch next.

" _How long has it been since we've gotten glared at by him?_ "

His right eye followed after.

" _We missed you, Dragon-san! Things were way more fun when you were around!_ "

" **STOP CALLING ME DRAGON, YOU BASTARDS!** "

The bar went quiet for a while, before Jun spoke up.

" _Oh, there's that atrocious temperament that can only be soothed with money! Just like Dragon-san!_ "

"Dragon, huh?" Gorou said in a bemused tone. "Must be a story behind that name."

"Well there's not and the guys say it because they're stupid and boss says it because he likes going along with their joke."

Gorou had kept watching his son as he spoke, and the tiny tinge of red at the top of his ears had him smiling internally.

'So even this new manly, cool and composed self of yours can still feel embarrassed by your father, huh, Ise?'

He pushed that thought aside, seating himself at one of the barstools before calling out.

"I meant what I said earlier, Mr. Andre! A round for everyone!"

"Hoh?" Andre spoke up even as he filled a mug up with what he had on tap. "My regular customers are more likely to mooch off of each other than to do something like buying folks a round. Must be a special occasion… Or maybe I just have the wrong type of clientele?"

Andre and Gorou chuckled and Issei smirked, while a good few of the patrons close by let out a few chuckles of their own.

Issei could have even sworn he saw Jun raise his mug in smug agreement!

He blinked as his father's hand landed back on his shoulder.

"It _Is_ a special occasion, Mr. Andre! It's not everyday that you find out your son has graduated into adulthood!"

"Just Andre's fine, Mr. Hyoudou, and what do you mean by graduating into full adulthood?"

"Gorou is fine as well, and… I mean that my son has become a manly man, whose cherry hasn't been popped as much as it was obliterated!"

Issei rolled his eyes at his dad's words, ignoring the fact that his face had mildly heated up.

'If only you knew, dad.'

"REALLY!?" Jun shouted at Gorou from his seat, before turning towards Issei. "YOU FINALLY LEARNED THE WAYS OF THE FLESH LIKE US MANLY MEN, HUH?"

"OI!" Kensuke jumped in with a shout of his own. "DON'T BE TRYING TO DRAG US REAL MEN DOWN TO YOUR LEVEL, JUN!"

"If by 'drag down' you mean 'make ascend beyond all limits', then you'd be absolutely right, as none of you seem to want to learn the methods of seduction from my esteemed self!"

"Shows what you know, you dumb, drunk bastard! _My_ methods of seduction landed me my Miri, so they're obviously the best!"

Miri, who was seated besides Kensuke, finished guzzling down her mug of beer before turning towards her man, a lecherous grin on her face as she spoke.

"Keep smooth-talking me like this and I'll ride you so hard that my motorcycle will get jealous!"

Hoots and hollers filled the air even as Kensuke reciprocated Miri's lecherous grin with one of his own.

Gorou watched this scene with an amused smile on his face, allowing a chuckle to slip past his lips before taking a sip of his own beer.

"KENSUKE, YOU LOVEY-DOVEY BASTARD, YOU MAKE ME SO JEALOUS!"

"Hoh? I thought you were the grade-A manly man seducer himself, why would you be jealous of little old gameless me?"

Jun drowned his response in his mug of freely-given Ale before ordering one of his own, and guzzling that one down as well, which drew laughter from all sides of the bar. Kensuke turned towards Issei after that, a confident smile on his face as he pointed his thumb towards himself and spoke up.

"What about you, _Dragon-san_? I know you already got yourself a girl, but I _could_ always teach you how to seduce her even furthe-"

"Don't need it."

"Hoh, are you sure? A woman's affection is something that you can lose easily if you make too many blunders or say the wrong thing, and that is doubly true for already fickle teenagers! My experience could help you keep your girlfriend liking you for longer!"

"Compliment a girl often, but only on things that you truly mean. Pamper her and give her attention and affection, but don't smother her, or get overly clingy. Be reliable and available for when she needs you, but don't treat her like some fragile piece of china. Spoil her a little bit, but don't try to buy her affection. Take the time to listen when she needs a friendly ear, and trust her to listen to you when you need to be heard. "

Everybody was nodding thoughtfully at Issei's words, especially the few women that were within the bar.

"Figure out her fetishes, and which of them intersect with the things you're willing to do."

More than a few people spat out their drinks at those words, yet Issei didn't stop, continuing in his general train of thought.

"Never forget about foreplay, or protection. Keep lube nearby in case it ever is needed. Remember that foreplay, when done properly, can lead to many powerful orgasms. Explore her body and watch her reactions to figure out what makes her tick, ask if needed or if you're uncertain. Find out how she likes to have sex, whether it's soft and tender, rough and frantic, a middle ground between the two, or neither; which are her preferred positions, sensitive spots, the type of language she likes using, and make sure that you give her _at_ _least_ three orgasms before any one of yours."

Some of the bar goers stared at Issei in stupefaction, others in surprise, and few in agreement and respect.

His father could only stare at him with undisguised pride, a pride that didn't fade despite the three mugs of beer he had already imbibed. Rather, he felt as if his pride was swelling even further.

"Damn, kid," Kensuke said with a wide grin, "Those are some high standards you hold yourself to."

The brunet shrugged, seating himself besides his dad and taking another small sip from the ice cold Hetap he was offered, before responding.

"It comes only annoying things I've had to deal with so far are how sticky and uncomfortable sheets can get, and how often they need to be washed."

"Really, now? You sure those are the only annoying things to deal with?"

Issei shrugged, getting another laugh out of Kensuke before the man leaned in, speaking in a faux-whisper that easily carried through their section of the bar, as it was likely intended.

"You ever get hit with the 'Does this dress look good on me/make me look fat' question? 'Cause that's a dangerous one, let me tell you that."

"Those aren't all that hard, really. Or, I haven't had trouble with those sorts of questions, at least."

"Hoh? Then enlighten the rest of us about this miracle solution you've found, oh mighty sage!"

Issei took another sip of his Hetap, savoring it for a while and allowing tension to build, before speaking.

"Kiss her."

"What?"

"If your girlfriend/fiancé/wife asks you if something makes her look fat, just kiss her with all you've got. Make the kiss so hot that she knows you'd be willing to take her right then and there if possible. Personally, I'd be as willing to ravage my girlfriends if they were clad in a set of high fashion clothes as if they were wearing a potato sack." Issei pointed his finger towards Kensuke with a confident smirk on his face. "Make sure that the message sticks and you should have no problem."

"...Have you ever considered teaching seduction classes?"

The other patrons groaned at Jun's words, while Gorou watched with a smile as Issei bantered around with the various criminal elements around, many of them at least twice as old as the young man.

He never noticed the way Miri, Kensuke's wife, stared at him curiously before her face went pale, her eyes snapping open in a mix of recognition and trepidation. Kensuke noticed this, however, nudging his wife before tilting his head in a silent question, which was answered with a silently mouthed 'Later'.

* * *

"Later, boss."

"See ya, kid."

Andre watched Issei and his father, Gorou, leave with an amused smirk, having enjoyed teasing and needling the usually unflappable teen until his embarrassment became too much to fully hide. As soon as they had left, Kensuke spoke up.

"What's wrong, Miri? You stared at Issei's old man for a while, then you looked like you saw a ghost."

The woman looked down into her mug for a bit, her face taking a somewhat nostalgic turn to it before she spoke.

"That man… I know him from my younger days, when I first became a delinquent back in High School."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She took a sip of her beer, before continuing, "Make sure everyone knows that he is _not_ to be fucked with at any given time."

"Well of course, he's _Dragon_ 's dad, and I don't think murder would be out of consideration by him if someone messed with his family."

"No, you're not getting it! Even without taking Issei into consideration, that man is someone that should _not_ be touched."

Seeing his wife's worried look had Kensuke suddenly acting much more soberly than he had previously been, his demeanor serious as he spoke.

"That bad?"

" _Heh…_ " Miri let out a mirthless chuckle, "Trying to mess with him would bring calamity down upon the whole of Kuoh's underworld."

Miri's solemn warning was taken seriously by those in attendance, who took the task of spreading the message and laying down the law very seriously for a myriad of reasons, amongst them their appreciation of their favorite bartender.

* * *

"We're back."

"I'm home!"

Issei and Gorou called out at the same time as they reached Issei's apartment, before they took in the sight of Miki chuckling behind her hand, while Aika smirked smugly, and Lilith tried to hide her snort by taking a sip from one of the three teacups now on the table.

"Oh." Miki spoke up, "It seems the men-folk have chosen to join us, after whatever ritual it is they did. Snacks?"

Miki extended a small platter out to the two, who didn't hesitate to pick up a snack each and pop it in their mouths, before their eyes popped open at the burst of flavor that hit them.

"Did you like it?"

They nodded, causing Miki's smile to widen as she turned towards the two girls.

"See, told you you'd do alright!"

"Mother-in-law…" Lilith trailed off, before Aika spoke up.

"We wouldn't have been able to do something like that without your instructions…" She paused, uncertainty flashing within her eyes for an instant before disappearing. " _Mother_ …"

Issei's gaze focused on Aika for a moment before softening, only to glide towards his mother. Their eyes met and Issei conveyed as much gratitude as he could through through them even as he gave his mother a small nod, an act that she reciprocated with an easy smile, before speaking up.

"As I've already told you girls, you can come to me if you want to learn more, if you have any problem you'd like me to help you with, or if you simply wish to talk." She looked down at her watch for a moment, before looking back up to the girls, then at Issei. "With that being said, I think it's about time we stopped bothering you children."

The two adults left shortly after, having been invited by the teens to visit again soon. After having seen his parents off and having settled back onto his couch, Issei allowed himself to go limp in his seat before addressing his girlfriends.

"So, I take it your talk with mom went well?"

The two girls traded knowing looks before turning towards him, secretive smiles on their faces as they spoke in stereo.

"Very well."

"Very well!"

Issei's right eyebrow rose curiously.

"You talked about something interesting?"

"Secret!"

"That's a secret!"

The brunet raised his hands in surrender as soon as the girls said that, before pulling the two of them into a hug that they snuggled into.

* * *

Issei and Aika had escorted Lilith back to her school when her curfew came around, before returning home and dealing with some schoolwork for a few hours before cuddling together watching a movie until bedtime.

Issei took a deep sniff of the covers, appreciating the sweet scent of the clothes detergent Aika had picked up for them, before shifting lightly when he felt Aika's arms wrapping around his side.

" _Ise…_ "

He looked down at the girl, his vision completely ignoring the fact that the room was pitch black, before responding.

"Mhm?"

" _Your mom is really cool._ "

"Yeah, she is."

" _I wish I had a mother like that._ "

Issei wrapped an arm around Aika and pulled her closer, planting a kiss on the crown of her head before responding.

"Well, since your birth mom isn't too pleasant, how about I share mine with you?"

The girl responded by tightening her arms around Issei's torso, letting out a mild chuckle before murmuring sleepily into his side.

" _Thanks, Ise. Goodnight._ "

"Goodnight, baby."

" _Love you._ "

"Love you too, my Ai-chan."

 _ **-Chapter, End!-**_


End file.
